


Wings

by ImperialMint, lunarshores (damichan)



Category: One Piece
Genre: Alternate Universe - Future, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, M/M, Mutual Pining, Phone Sex, Pigeons
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-29
Updated: 2016-04-29
Packaged: 2018-06-05 06:45:27
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 26,781
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6693712
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ImperialMint/pseuds/ImperialMint, https://archiveofourown.org/users/damichan/pseuds/lunarshores
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When a storm brings a lost and wounded pigeon into Ace’s life, it’s not the first time he’s helped foster an injured bird, but this time it’s different. This time, the bird belongs to Marco, one of the foremost experts in the country, as well as one of the top specialists at Whitebeard Animal Sanctuary.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Our collaboration for this year's [One Piece Big Bang](http://opbigbang.tumblr.com/)! A massive thank you to our wonderful, wonderful artist [subtlyimpulsive](http://subtlyimpulsive.tumblr.com/), who did the absolutely amazing art, which you can find [here](http://subtlyimpulsive.tumblr.com/post/143616471125/wings-by-lunarshores-and-imperialmint-go) as well as interspersed in the fic. This was a ton of fun to write, and we hope you enjoy it!

The judge finished marking his sheet, nodding and tapping things into his tablet. He looked down his nose as he glanced at Ace, his smile turning patronising for a moment, before he turned back to Ace’s father.

“Yet another brilliant specimen,” the judge breathed, in a way that suggested he’d do anything for Roger if he’d just ask. Ace rolled his eyes, reaching out a hand to gently stroke one of his father’s many show pigeons, this one a Saxon fairy swallow ([ image 1 ](http://www.unitedswallowclub.com/Zwonitz%20German%20Photos/zwoenitz-2011-champion-Egbert-Bierig-1834.jpg) ). It cooed softly, stepping to rub against Ace’s fingers, and Ace shot a triumphant look at the judge.

“My son helped a lot with this lot,” Roger said happily, and Ace looked away as Roger smiled down at him, pride clear in his eyes. It wasn’t the first lot of pigeons he’d helped breed for showing, but this one was part of the clutch he had overseen since birth. He’d helped train these pigeons and mould them into the perfect showing birds. And, of course, showered them with love and affection.

“Yes,” the judge said, as if he had a bad smell suddenly wafted his way. “Congratulations on first place in any regard.” He nodded and walked off, rushing over to brown-nose the second place winners.

Roger shot him a look, and Ace grinned, picking up their prized bird and placing her in one of their travelling crates. There were docking systems all around to carry the pigeons to the relevant vehicle, but Ace preferred to do things the manual way, carrying the pigeons instead of leaving them up to robots and mechanics. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust them, he preferred his pigeons old-fashioned was all.

In fact, Ace mused as he collected another travel box, their four pigeons all accounted for between them now, he preferred his pigeons terribly old-fashioned. There was something charming about them, something that drew him in.

They were adorable, and he could watch their antics for hours. They were incredibly smart and trainable too, making amazing companions, and despite how much he disliked living under his father’s shadow, he’d never give up his birds ([ image 1 ](http://kjcii.webs.com/Homing%20pigeons%2011-17-09%20002.jpg) | [ image 2 ](http://www.freewebs.com/kjcii/Bastine%2011-26-10.jpg)).

The journey home flew by, quite literally. Ace had recently acquired his flying permit and was finally allowed to use the quicker sky systems rather than stick to the roads on the ground. They were home in under half an hour, despite living quite far from the showing centre, and they took off to the show loft as soon as they were home.

Once they had their birds settled safely in their home, Roger clapped him on the shoulder. “You want any help with your racers?” he asked, and Ace shook his head, a smile growing on his lips at the mention of his birds. Roger chuckled and headed inside, where Rouge would be waiting to hear about their show.

The racing loft wasn’t far off from the show loft, and Ace smiled, remembering the summer he’d spent building it when he was 12, his dad insisting that he prove he was ready for the responsibility of his own birds. He’d gotten his first three pairs late that summer, and now people paid ludicrous amounts of money for birds of his stock because of his birds’ success at the races.

His father had always stuck to show pigeons, and while Ace loved them too, these birds were _his_. They cooed at him as he opened the door to his pen, and he let out a breath he hadn’t known he’d been holding. He went over to his work area at the end of the short hall and prepped their feed before placing it into the main aviary. He did a headcount as he cleaned out their bedding and replaced it with fresh shavings, laughing when he saw the pair he’d released at the show were already home.

“It was a long show I’ll grant you, but there was no race this time,” Ace said and held out his hand to Striker, who flew up to it immediately, looking for the corn Ace was sure to have. His partner flew up to land on Ace’s shoulder, and Ace laughed at their shameless begging. Roger always said his birds were spoilt rotten, and Ace knew he was right, but making home the best place ever was part of training after all (or that’s what he told himself as he put out a plate of assorted chopped greens garnished with all sorts of vegetables and seeds that Rogue had left out for him).

Between the prize money and money from selling off some of his younger birds, they more than paid for all of their treats, so his father really had nothing to stand on, Ace decided. His phone buzzed suddenly.

“Who is it from?” Ace asked, and his phone chirped.

“Call from Westfield Animal Rescue.”

“Answer,” Ace said, frowning. He’d rescued some of his pigeons from Westfield, when they’d gotten a couple in. They didn’t have any proper facilities for them, so they’d reached out to Ace for fostering on occasion (he ended up keeping them all for the most part, the ones that didn’t go back to their proper home).

“Hello? This is Ace.”

“Ace, I’m sorry to call so late.” Ace recognised Dr Chopper at once. He was Ace’s primary vet as well as the rescue center’s.

“It’s no trouble, Chopper. What’s up?”

“We’ve got a gorgeous racer with a broken wing here, brought in by a couple about twenty miles from you. He should make a full recovery if he has the proper space, but...”

“Bring him on down. I’ll setup the quarantine area for him.”

The quarantine area wasn’t one Ace like to use too much, but it was always ready. Who knew when a squabble could break out, especially when he was introducing a new pigeon or there were younger ones about. He also had to be wary when one of his birds returned from a journey, in case they were ill, and the ones that he sent out on longer flights always spent the night in quarantine so Ace could run a basic scan of them. Chopper had given him a helpful device that monitored the pigeons and told him if there were any illnesses, and Ace found it a remarkable tool. He has no idea how people had looked after their birds without all the technology they had today, he really didn’t.

“Right then,” he said to himself, laying out some recycled paper to cover the quarantine box. He fetched food and water bowls, making sure they were clipped onto a little shelf that attached to the wall, high enough so that shavings and straw wouldn’t get into them, but low enough that even an injured pigeon could hobble over and eat or drink without straining itself.

Ace also put in a few branches and perches (there were holes in the walls for such attachments, Ace had seen some much more barren coops and lofts before and it filled him with sadness – he was never going to let his pigeons have such a miserable home), arranging them so the bird could hop easily from one to the next without using his wings. He’d add in more perches later, but this would do for now.

Last to go in was the sand box, and he cleared away a corner of the bedding to place the box of sand and crushed oyster shells inside. Ace narrowed his eyes, retreated to where he kept all the bird treats and returned with a handful of seeds, scattering a few in the bedding and others in the sand. It would give the newcomer something to do while it settled in.

Satisfied, though he’d no doubt be back to fiddle about later depending on how the bird reacted, Ace closed the door to the quarantine box. He heard a bell sound and knew that would be Chopper, over in record time. Looking down at the controller on his wrist, Ace opened the home security app and opened the door for Chopper, letting the artificial voice inform him Ace was up in the loft.

“You’ve redecorated!” Chopper said happily when he arrived, a cardboard box in his little hands. “There’s so much more space now and the nesting boxes look so comfy.”

Ace nodded. It had been a while coming, this redecorating project, but the loft looked a lot more natural now, wooden panels and perches replacing the metal ones he’d used before. Of course, he could only use these new materials because of the release of the new cleaning products that had come last year.

Ace personally preferred using a bit of elbow grease to letting the robots do it, but when he’d had a primarily wooden loft before it had been hell to clean. Even now he kept rubber flooring down, covering it with newspaper but as their technology advanced, there were more products aimed just for ridding lofts of pigeon muck. Now Ace only had to do a full clean once a week, and even then he was being a little over zealous, while the small monitor bots took care of most of the waste throughout the day without ruining the wood or harming the pigeons with horrible chemicals.

Again, Ace really had no idea how people had looked after birds before all this technology. It must have been so much hard work.

Chopper handed him the small travelling cage he’d brought, leaning over to inspect how he’d set up the new quarantine area and nodding enthusiastically.

“Absolutely perfect, Ace,” he said, and Ace smiled. “You’ve added everything I suggested!”

“Of course I did, Chopper: you’re the best vet around.” Ace laughed as Chopper vehemently denied it made him happy while dancing around and blushing.

Ace loosed the injured pigeon, eyes widening when he saw the gorgeous bird. It was a brilliant rusty yellow, a Yellow Trenton ( [ image 1 ](http://www.cichlidlovers.com/racers_trentons.JPG) | [ image 2 ](http://www.strombergschickens.com/images/uploads/1834_512_large.jpg)) if Ace had his guess, one of the kinds he’d yet to try. He poked around his new home cautiously, his wing bound by a clever little cast Chopper had put on him. In his careful perusal, he found a millet seed, and his little eyes lit up as he began burrowing in the bedding to find the tasty treats.

“Thank you so much for this, Ace. They...” Chopper gulped, and Ace turned, alarmed by the noise, to find him on the verge of tears. “It’s not a bad break, and I was able to splint it before it set, so he has a very good shot at flying properly again in a few weeks, but you know how they are about birds and broken wings down there. They wanted to euthanise him.” He looked away guiltily. “I might have snuck him out.”

Ace ruffled Chopper’s hair. “That’s exactly what you should have done, Chopper. They do good work there, but they don’t know much about birds that’s for sure,” Ace said, rolling his eyes.

“He has a band too,” Chopper said, “a tracking band, no less, but it’s fried. One of those temporary ones they use in races to measure speed, but I don’t think there were any in the area recently.” His eyes slid over to Ace who nodded in confirmation. They watched the newcomer putter around, searching for millet seeds.

“This breed is known for distance,” Ace said absently. The injured bird had finally settled in his little nest, and something in Ace eased when he saw how happily he settled.

“Will he go home on his own? When he’s better?”

“If he’s trained to race almost certainly. It’s very hard to retrain a pigeon to a new home, especially if they’re from further away than 25 miles.” Before Chopper could ask, Ace shook his head. “And no, there’s no one raising this breed anywhere near here, or I’d already have some.” Chopper laughed at that.

“How are the others?” Chopper asked after a few moments of silence, looking down the hall to where the main aviary was. “Have you made any other changes?”

“They’re all doing great!” Ace said, and he led Chopper down the hall and handed him the tin of peanuts, nudging him into the aviary. “Striker beat us home from the show today.”

Chopper’s eyes sparkled, and he laughed delightedly when the pigeons flocked to see what sort of tasty treats he’d brought this time, one even landing on his shoulder. Ace watched as he visited the birds, cooing over them enough to put them to shame.

It was late when he let Chopper out, his birds pronounced fit as can be and the injured one sleeping soundly in his nest, and his stomach was growling as he trudged up at the house where Rouge would have kept dinner warm for him, all set to bombard him with questions about his new charge over a cup of tea.

When he entered the kitchen, Rouge was humming away to the radio over a tablet, eyes narrowed in concentration. Ace figured she was knee-deep in one of the crossword challenges (and he hated them, they were full of ridiculous clues that never made any sense, so clearly his mother had sold her soul or something to be able to complete every single one) and set to plating up some dinner. It was some curried meat with rice, and he smiled as he took the first bite, glad it was his mother’s day to cook. She always knew the best meals to make on show days.

“Ace, give me some obscure materials that can be made into yarn, six letters” Rouge said suddenly. She looked up, eyes wide, and Ace shook his head. Helping her out was a slippery slope. If he started now, Ace would be helping all night.

“I’m not falling for that again,” he muttered, and Rouge rolled her eyes. She set her elbows on the table and slipped off her reading glasses, watching Ace closely.

“Your father says you did well at the show today,” she said, and Ace nodded, excitement rising in him as he began to tell her all about the show and how well his birds had done.

“You should have seen Striker too,” he said, waving his fork around. “He was faster than any of the others and more accurate too. He took all the shortcuts he needed to – and he’s never started off in that area before.” Ace felt pride well in his chest for how well his birds, all of them, had done today. If this continued, Ace might earn enough money to start off a breeding stock. He’d need a completely new facility, preferably in a different building to the other birds so as not to upset the courting couples and nesting parents, and an incubator in case any birds didn’t want to sit on the nest and…

Ace forced himself to take a deep breath. A breeding facility, or the kind he wanted anyway, was still a little out of reach. As was his other plan, a rehabilitation facility, and that particular plan he hadn’t even had the courage to talk to Chopper about yet. He took birds in when he could, but the rehabilitation facility he imagined would be larger than anything else he’d ever dealt with before, bigger even than Roger’s enclosures for all of his birds. It might even have to be off site, away from his family home, and that meant a lot of money.

Not a lot of people Ace’s age could afford to move away from the family home. In fact, not many people ever moved away from the family home. There were other things to do, such as buy food, that were more important, and Ace had never felt any great pull to leave anyway. He had everything he needed, and if he needed space, he could go over to Luffy’s. He didn’t like to think too hard about how the mayor of the town had literally given Luffy and his friends one of the largest (admittedly run down, but Franky had made sure to fix that right up, and it looked better than any buildings around it now, practically a modern day palace) houses on the outskirts of the city it was better to be ignorant than to get involved with Luffy’s more creative hobbies.

But the house, the Thousand Sunny as Luffy and his friends called their home, was a haven for Ace when he needed a break from home, and he’d almost be tempted to move in and relocate his birds there except for one issue. While the house had all the space in the world, it was in the city still. It had a tiny garden that allowed for a small grove of trees, odd shaped flower beds and whatever plants Usopp was growing. There wasn’t room for Ace’s rehabilitation centre plans, and he needed somewhere away from the city, somewhere there was room to let his future birds recover.

It would be a few years before that though, and Ace sighed as he helped his mother with the washing up, loading the dishes into the dishwasher. Many homes now had robots that did this for you, but Rouge said she liked the mindlessness of it, and Ace had to agree that it was nice, the two of them like this. They finished quickly between them, and Ace kissed his mother on the cheek.

“I’m off for bed now,” he said, and she nodded looking between the clock and her unfinished crossword and sighing. Ace rolled his eyes as she sat back down with her tablet, turning the music down, out of consideration. He put on the kettle before he went up. Knowing her she’d be needing a cup of tea soon enough.

He got ready for bed and clambered in, settling down with a tablet to do some reading before bed. He’d just downloaded a book on the founding of a major rehabilitation center (for animals of all kinds), and he read far too late into the night, snickering at some of the more wild exploits they’d had over the years.

When he felt his eyes drifting shut, he snuggled down into his bed and set the tablet aside. He had a lot to do tomorrow morning, starting with checking on his latest rehabilitation case.

* * *

 

Ace sighed, pushing away his tablet, and flopped back on the couch in Luffy’s living room. Chopper pouted next to him, concern marring his habitual cheer.

“Still no luck finding the owner of the bird you two are taking care of?” Nami asked, and Ace nodded glumly. A bird that had been raced should have people looking for it _somewhere_ on the internet, but too often these days people treated the computerized ID chips like they were infallible, which was patently not true.

“We’ve checked all the local clubs within a 200 mile radius, and no one has reported a missing bird. He wasn’t in the race I was at. He just appeared from nowhere!” Nami frowned, pulling out her own tablet.

“I thought you said this kind could fly further than that,” Robin said, and Sanji pressed a cup of tea in Ace’s hands and set a cake in front of Chopper. The girls already had fantastic looking snacks. Ace was holding out for whatever he’d be serving the rest of the men. He might say it was worse, but it usually was fantastic and didn’t look so froufrou.

“They can,” Chopper said, “but there’s no reason to think someone would take the bird all the way here if not for a race. We’re going to start checking for breeders of that variety soon, maybe one of them will know who might have had it. His wing will be completely healed soon, and we can’t just let him go.”

“Why not?” Luffy asked, bouncing over to fling himself down. Ace huffed, a stray elbow catching him in the ribs. “Won’t he just go home?”

“He might,” Ace said. “But we don’t know for sure, and he could just get hurt again. We don’t know how well he can fly yet either.”

“Ah-ha!” Nami said, and everyone turned to her. “TV, display on please.” The screen changed to pull up her laptop, and there was a screeched protest from Usopp, who’d been playing some game or other with a reluctant Zoro, but everyone ignored him to study the weather map on the screen.

“It’s pretty,” Luffy said, and Ace nodded.

“Lots of colours.”

“No, idiots, this was the big storm that hit the western coast three weeks ago, a couple days before the pigeon was found. You should look over there. He was probably blown off course.”

Nami sighed at their blank looks, and Ace fought the urge to shoot a smile in Luffy’s direction. It wasn’t that he enjoyed winding them up, but sometimes it was nice to pretend he was absolutely as oblivious as Luffy.

“It still looks pretty,” Luffy commented, and Ace snorted. “Why aren’t storms that colour in real life?”

Nami opened her mouth, paused, shook her head and then seemed to decide against it, fixing her gaze on Ace instead.

“It’s definitely worth it,” Ace said with a smile, tracking the area on the screen as Nami waved away the cloud cover, exposing a large portion of land.

He recognised the area, a patch that was largely wild with only a handful of scattered towns, though their numbers lessened the closer to the coast they got. Well, with one exception of the large fishing town, and Ace really hoped the bird hadn’t come from there. The town wasn’t known as the friendliest and they didn’t take well to, what they called, ‘big city types’.

“I think it’s most likely to have come from one of these,” Nami said, bringing up a strip of land closer to their city than the coast. A few villages and towns seemed to be scattered in a line and Ace looked to Nami for an explanation. “The land becomes a lot windier the closer you get to the sea,” she explained slowly. “I don’t know much about your pigeons, but whenever there’s a strong wind you start moaning about how you’re not sure if the birds can fly it.”

Ace gave a sheepish smile. It wasn’t that he didn’t think his birds could fly it, but strong winds for novice birds with little practice was never a good idea. If the bird in his care had come from somewhere where there were multiple pigeons, he doubted that the owner was setting up their training facility right on the edge of coastal winds.

“It’s the dunes more than anything,” Nami carried on, lost in her own world. “They produce interesting wind channels and it’s fine for the coastal birds and seabirds, but pigeons… I don’t think it would be the best environment for them.”

She seemed to snap out of her little world and turned to Ace. “It’s a start at least,” she said, eyes slipping to where Luffy was near the screen, next to Zoro and Usopp. Ace was fairly sure he was planning a coup of the screen (especially now that the pretty colours had gone), and Nami rolled her eyes, thumbing her tablet and bringing up the game they’d been playing before.

“Thank you Nami!” Chopper said excitedly, turning to Ace with wide eyes. “Do you think we can scan the area for any animal locations? That area hasn’t been cooperating with the information mapping programme so a lot of the data will be missing, but…” Chopper trailed off, looking down.

“Worst comes to worst we’ll go knocking from door to door,” Ace promised, though he had other intentions too. Surely somewhere in the towns they were about to visit would be a plot of land, good enough for the rehabilitation centre he was dreaming of. Some of the land out there was dirt cheap, too, worthless to commercial builders as the wilds had layers and layers of protection on them to save the wildlife there. It left small pockets of land that were too small for anything but personal use. Perfect for Ace’s plans.

With Nami’s and Chopper’s help, it wasn’t too hard to track his mystery bird’s owners down. The real surprise was just who the owners were. Whitebeard was the name in animal sanctuaries, and to find out his bird was from their first and largest location, the very one he’d been reading about all week, was a bit of a shock.

 

_Dear Mr Newgate,_

 

_A few weeks ago, an injured Yellow Trenton pigeon was found in my area, and as I’m the only one for miles that has any facilities for them, he was brought to me. His ID number has no search results (please see attached for a picture of it) and his wing had a minor fracture. I’ve been unable to locate the owner, but my friend is a meteorologist and told me it was possible he was blown far off course. Is it possible he belongs to you, or do you know anyone who’s missing him? He’s doing quite well and can be transported soon. Please find a picture attached and feel free to share it to find out whom he belongs to._

 

_Sincerely,_

_Portgas D. Ace_

 

He hesitated over the email he was about to send, reading over it one last time for the fourth time. What if it wasn’t theirs? They were the only ones with records of Yellow Trentons in the area Nami had mapped out for them, but he didn’t wanted to bother them. Ace pressed his lips together. They were animal rehabilitator and educators. Even if it wasn’t their bird, they ought to care about finding his home just as much as Ace did.  He pressed send and let out a deep breath, rolling back over on his bed.

It was lucky there was a good animal transportation service. He didn’t think he’d be able to afford the trip all the way out there, but with the automated train service transporting animals of any kind was easier than ever. It was a bit disappointing though. Getting to see the best animal sanctuary in the country would be something.

Ace sighed and shut his laptop, swinging his legs off the bed. He’d go check on his birds while he waited for a response. One of his best pairs was nesting, and he liked to fuss over them even more. Plus, the injured pigeon’s cast was off and Chopper said he could start working on building up his flight strength. It looked like he’d be able to fly just fine, he’d said, and Ace smiled. So many people thought that a broken wing meant death to a bird, but even if he’d not made a full recovery, he’d still be able to have a long and happy life in the loft.

As soon as he entered the loft, the computer chirped at him, notifying him of an email. Ace’s heart raced as he brought up the screen by his workbench. He knew it was silly, but the man he’d emailed was the leader in animal rehabilitation.

 

_Dear Ace,_

 

_Thank you so much for taking care of Phoenix for us! Marco was beside himself fretting. He knew it was a bad day for a race, but he’s a steady bird, normally does just fine no matter the weather. How is he doing? We can arrange transport as soon as your vet clears him. Would you be willing to send his notes? We really can’t thank you enough. I know there are very few facilities over there just for birds and most of the others would just have him put down. Please stay in touch._

 

_Edward Newgate_

 

It took Ace a moment to really comprehend what the letters formed, and he took a shaky breath. Edward Newgate had actually replied, Edward Newgate was the owner (or knew the owner, something like that) of the little pigeon Ace was looking after – Edward Newgate!

Closing his eyes and berating himself for the overreaction, Ace reread the letter, heart still pounding in his chest. Newgate hadn’t asked for the bird back, just the vet notes, and while that might seem a little odd to some people, it made perfect sense to Ace, as well as placed a deep amount of trust in him. Newgate was asking him to look after the bird until it was healed enough it could return home. Ace was going to be in charge of a bird from Newgate’s place, trusted enough with a bird that seemed to be pretty special, and a shiver ran down his spine.

Wheeling around in his chair, Ace wanted to think of a coherent reply, but all he could think of was how one little bird had changed everything. People waited years for opportunities to volunteer at Whitebeard’s animal sanctuaries, and a simple bird had booted Ace up to talking to the man himself.

It wasn’t that Ace was trying to wheedle in or network, not really, but he’d always admired Whitebeard. Edward Newgate was a household name to Ace, a man of inspiring talent and initiative, and to receive a message from him was, quite literally, a dream come true. Ace had so much respect for Newgate and his mission.

Before he could forget, Ace emailed Chopper, asking him to send the full notes through. Waiting for Chopper would give Ace time to compose a decent reply, and that was when he had a grand idea. So grand, in fact, that he thought he deserved a pat on the back.

Why not send a photograph with his reply? It was simple enough and would prove the bird was okay, and if Ace was in it too then, well. Everyone enjoyed bird selfies, right?

The pigeon – Phoenix – stuck his head up when Ace approached him, eyeing Ace warily. He cooed, shifting back as Ace opened his cage, clicking his tongue gently and holding his hand out for Phoenix to perch on. He hopped up neatly, balancing himself as Ace brought him out slowly, peering around in interest.

“Do you think you can manage to balance on my shoulder?” Ace asked, and Phoenix tilted his head, looking up. Ace liked to imagine he was agreeing to the position and smiled wide when, upon raising his hand to his shoulder, the little pigeon settled himself against Ace’s neck.

“There’s a good boy,” Ace said, gently preening the puffed up feathers around Phoenix’s head with the tip of his index finger. “Now we’ll get a lovely photo, yes, and send that to your family. Maybe they’ll even send one back, and you can see that they are all happy and wishing you well on your holiday.”

Not that Phoenix understood anything Ace was saying, nor did the scenario have to make sense, but Ace enjoyed his little stories. And he knew Phoenix was an intelligent bird-- he’d run Ace ragged trying to keep him with enough toys and games to keep him entertained, which if he belong to Newgate made suddenly so much more sense-- so Ace liked to think he enjoyed listening.

Phoenix preened the hair behind Ace’s ear in return, and Ace snapped a photo. It took several tries to get one that he could even begin to consider sending to Mr Newgate, but he finally decided he’d taken enough to choose from. Phoenix obediently hopped onto Ace’s hand when he held it up, and Ace set him down gently.

He scattered treats in the enclosure before gently shutting it. Chopper ought to have sent the notes by now. He’d ask if Phoenix had any favorite treats or games while he was at it. Ace bit his lower lip as he made his way back to the house. What if he forgot to ask something important? Mr Newgate would be reading this message, and he didn’t want to embarrass himself before he’d had a chance to start up a place of his own.

But suddenly that didn’t seem as unreachable as before. Mr Newgate treated him as a professional, and that was exactly what Ace meant to be.

* * *

 

Marco sighed as he shut the door to his lofts. Every morning he’d still hope that Phoenix would be sitting there waiting for him like always, but it was almost twice his longest disappearance, and he had to accept that he would probably never show up. Fossa bounded into the loft, and Marco raised a brow.

“Marco! Someone found your bird!” Marco’s heart leapt in his chest, and he bit his lip.

“Phoenix?” He cleared his throat, trying to rid his voice of the hoarseness. “Someone found Phoenix? Where? Is he okay?”

“Somewhere out east, I think. You’ll have to ask at the office for the details.” Marco started towards the main office, and then froze. Fossa grinned at him. “Go on, I’ll take care of things here.”

Marco smiled at him, relief still spreading through him, making his limbs loose. “Thanks, Fossa.”

“Don’t worry, man, if it was one of mine, I’d be going mad. The guy who found him seems to know his stuff, so I’m sure he’s in good hands. He always knows about these kind of things.”

Marco was already off, his head spinning with questions. It wasn’t too far fetched to think Phoenix had gotten blown east with the storm, but where had his tracker gone? And who could have found him who wouldn’t have contacted them immediately?

Whitebeard looked up from his screen as soon as Marco walked in. “You’re just in time, I just got the vets notes. He’s being very well taken care of, it seems. Lucky for him, it seems the kid saved him from being put down just barely.” Whitebeard shook his head. “There really needs to be a facility over there to take cases like this.”

Marco nodded absently, focusing on scanning the conversation. A broken wing? Phoenix was lucky indeed to find this Ace. The vice clenched around Marco’s heart started loosening as he read Ace’s brief reports. Whitebeard leaned over and slid the screen up, ignoring Marco’s protest as he opened an attachment, and a picture loaded instead of the vet’s notes.

Phoenix was snuggled up to the stranger’s neck, affectionately preening him. His temperamental bird who’d never let anyone else take care of him without protest or violence was calm and content perched on the young man’s shoulder, and unbidden jealousy warred with relief.  

“Fickle creature,” Marco muttered, all in good nature. It was odd to see Phoenix so comfortable with someone else, but a huge flood of relief. His bird was okay and clearly loving life if he was preening the guy.

“He wants to know a bit more about Phoenix,” Whitebeard said, standing up with a sigh and patting Marco on the back. “If you do the forward thing? Is that what it’s called?”

Even in this age of technology, Whitebeard still claimed he had no idea how to do much. Marco must have shown him a thousand times how to forward an email, but he claimed ignorance. Still, it meant most of their practices relied on more traditional methods, which was the main reason they’d been able to spread their locations wide into more inhospitable places. They didn’t have to rely on electricity for everything, and that made a lot of difference, even just outside of the big cities.

“Sure,” Marco commented, forwarding the email in two swipes. He’d be able to reply to it properly now, maybe send some pictures to this Ace. He had some pictures of Phoenix as a squab, and maybe he’d be interested in seeing some of Phoenix’s roost friends? Pigeons could recognise individuals from photos after all, so it might be nice for Phoenix.

Or maybe Marco was getting carried away again, he’d been told a few times that he was a bit full on when it came to his birds. Mostly by the people he’d dated, everyone else he surrounded himself with got it. Hopefully, as he was looking after Marco’s precious Phoenix, Ace would get it too.

“Fossa wanted to get a few of the older squabs moved today by the way,” Marco said, turning to Whitebeard. “I’ve a few that can be moved out of the juvenile area, but we’re not sure what you want to do with the young show pigeons.”

Whitebeard hummed to himself, tilting his head to the side as he thought. Their organisation wasn’t just a rescue centre, they were the largest pigeon breeding centre in the country and supplied many conservation organisations rarer and non-domesticated species of pigeons and doves. Marco, as one of the more experienced staff at this site, worked as one of the handful who dealt directly with the wild birds, and he knew they’d be transported to various wildlife centres soon.

“Is it just the Pinks ([image 1](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/51/Pink_Pigeon_RWD3.jpg))  and Victoria Crowns ( [image 1](http://s3.zoochat.com.s3.amazonaws.com/large/dsc_9574-207088.jpg)) we have in there now?” Whitebeard asked, and Marco nodded. “Let me think about it today. Fossa can move some of his into your floor cages, and we’ll get the others moved before lunch.”

There was a pause, and Marco lingered, knowing Whitebeard had something else to say.

“A city sanctuary would be beneficial, you know,” he said, and Marco nodded. It was something they’d all discussed before, something that they all wanted (the countryside was a pain for getting on time shipments, and they’d had to keep birds in crates longer than they wanted to), but never managed to push through.

“Phoenix’s new friend could be a big help to us,” Whitebeard added, and Marco smiled, understanding completely. Ace had to know of somewhere they could set up shop, and if not he might be a great advisor on suppliers and setting up a network.

“Something to keep in mind,” Marco said, though his mind was already whirring with possibilities. Ace’s flashing grin sprung to Marco’s mind unbidden, and he found his smile widening as he sat down at his own desk to formulate a reply-- and to ask some prying questions.

 

_Dear Ace,_

 

_I want to personally thank you for taking care of Phoenix. I know it was extremely lucky for him to end up in your hands, as I believe there are no facilities anywhere around there. Do you have other birds as well? I saw that you seemed to be in a loft in the picture. I know that show birds are all the rage in the cities these days._

 

Marco paused, worrying at his bottom lip with his teeth. Would that be enough to get him started talking? Marco knew without conceit but with no little pride that the Whitebeard facilities were one of the most respected of their kind in the world, and the kid might not want to “bother” him. Like he would mind talking about any birds much less pigeons. Marco laughed softly to himself, and didn’t have to look up to know that Whitebeard was giving him the look.

After reading back over it, Marco nodded to himself. If Ace was any sort of animal caretaker that would be more than enough.

 

_As for treats, it sounds like you’ve already been feeding him all his favorites, and in so much style, he’ll be spoiled rotten by the time he gets home! The most important thing for him is boredom, especially if he’s not been flying for so long. I’m sure you’ve already noticed. We’re always working on new games, and there are some plans we’ve got for strengthening wings he’s never gotten to play before. I’ll send you some plans if you have the time._

_My colleague, Fossa, will be in the neighbouring city in two weeks. It seems like Phoenix will be well enough to be moved by then, but only if your vet thinks it’s a good idea. It is probably the easiest way to bring him back._

_Thank you very much for the photos! I’ve attached some of Phoenix as a squab and several of the various kinds we have at the moment. I thought you (and maybe he if you want to share) might be interested._

 

_With gratitude,_

 

_Marco_

 

It really was a shame that he’d be busy with the next lot of egg hatching when Fossa transported the birds to the zoo. Marco would have liked to meet Ace and see Phoenix again.

But he got up and nodded to Whitebeard as he left the offices. Even if Fossa was helping with his today, there was still lots to do, and now he could have a clear mind, knowing Phoenix was happy and as well as could be expected after such an ordeal. And also a little suck-up, but Marco supposed he could forgive him that. He had to admit to a certain curiosity when it came to his bird’s savior himself.  

Humming to himself, Ace grabbed his target and pointer, dismayed to see it had gathered dust in the short while it hadn’t been in use. Of course, almost all of his birds had graduated this training months ago (for the younger ones anyway, some had cleared this years ago), but Ace didn’t realise how quickly time had passed. He wasn’t hatching any eggs this year and so had completely lost track of time, and he stared down at the target, lost in thought.

Ever since Marco had emailed, Ace’s mind had been a whir of possibility and enrichment. His own birds had never seen so many puzzle boxes and various toys, and while some of them still flew over to coo in interest, most of them ignored Ace’s trial attempts at getting their attention.

He needed something interesting, something to help strengthen Phoenix’s muscles and get him home soon. Ace would be beside himself if he lost any of his birds, and he knew Marco had to be worried. He’d sent Ace a ridiculous amount of pictures to prove that he loved Phoenix a lot, and Ace had flipped through them with a grin, Phoenix on one shoulder, staring down at the screen.

Target flying was next on the list, Ace decided. Phoenix was doing well, his wing was healing nicely according to Chopper, and Ace was going to start him on training so that he could slowly recover his muscles. He’d only be jumping for the moment, but Ace wanted to get him used to the target and pointing stick.

“Alright then, little man,” Ace announced as he moved into Phoenix’s flight, a coo his answer. “I know it’s lonely up here, but you can move in with the other pigeons when I’m happy you’re not going to stress your wing. So we’ll start training today, okay?”

Phoenix bobbed his head, and Ace assumed that was a yes. Obviously.

Their training was slow. Phoenix wasn’t too interested in playing at first, and Ace couldn’t reward him until he got the hang of it. He tapped the target with the pole, and Phoenix was supposed to peck the dot in the centre, but instead he began preening his wings, completely unconcerned.

“Oi, you,” Ace said, poking Phoenix gently. “Your father won’t be pleased if you show up all fat with no muscle.”

He tapped the target board again, and Phoenix obliged this time, tapping the centre with his beak. A few scattered millet seeds were his reward, and Phoenix ran to them instantly. His next peck of the board was much more eager, and Ace was sure that Phoenix had been through this training before.

Slowly, they moved through hops and jumps, getting Phoenix up to a perch without his wings and then back down again. He did well, and Ace fought the urge to congratulate him. He was only a pigeon, after all.

What he could do, however, was tell Marco all about his progress. He’d been worried in the beginning that he’d be bothering Marco, but instead of seeming annoyed with the constant updates, Marco seemed to love them, answering eagerly, and even asking questions about Ace’s birds and the area. The questions were getting more and more specific, and Ace was torn by the thought that they’d open something for birds up here.

It was definitely needed, and Ace knew there were so many that Chopper didn’t get to catch before they were killed, that never made it to him, but if they opened one, there would be little use for his plans. He could never do it as well as the Whitebeards, after all, and they had much better resources than he could dream of.

Ace sighed and gave Phoenix a scattering of millet seed to end their session. A smile crept to his lips as after he’d finished, Phoenix hopped up on Ace’s foot and stared up at him determinedly.

“I see why Marco’s missing you so much,” Ace said. “You’re quite the little charmer, you know. But no more for you unless you fish them out of your toys. You’ve got to work for them, Phoenix.”

Phoenix cooed, still staring at Ace.

“You’re lonely, aren’t you? C’mon then.” Ace held out his hand for Phoenix to hop on and settled him on his shoulder. “You want to look at your friends again?”

Ace pulled his tablet out and pulled up pictures Marco had sent him. It always did seem to settle Phoenix to look at picture of his flockmates. He saw Marco had just sent him a message five minutes ago and opened that first.

 

_Dear Ace,_

 

_I’m not sure if you’d be comfortable with this, but if you’d like to get a tour of our facilities, I’d be happy call you on Skype with you sometime. I’d love to get to see your other birds as well. Only if you want though._

 

_Marco_

 

“What do you say, buddy? Want to call Marco?” Ace laughed at himself for asking, but he added Marco and pressed call before he could let his nerves get better of him. Even if Marco didn’t pick up now, he’d probably just call back, and Ace would have no choice but to pick up then so--

“Hello?” The video winked to life, and Ace’s mouth dried up. Marco was in some sort of office, a couple people milling about in the background.

“Uh, hi,” he said and fell silent, mind scrambling.

“Is that little traitor on your shoulder again?” Marco asked, and Ace relaxed at the warmth in his voice and took a deep breath. He looked down at Phoenix, who cocking his head at the tablet curiously.

“Yeah, he gets pretty upset if I don’t show him your pictures before I leave, and this is the easiest way for him. He sits on my foot until I pick him up.”

Marco snorted. “Well, that sounds about right. He’s a stubborn one. He’s really standoffish with anyone but me, so he must really like you.” Phoenix pecked the screen, and Ace snickered.

“I don’t think he likes you bad mouthing him.”

“Just the truth, Phoenix.”

A beat of silence fell, and Ace siddled his feet. He knocked the pointer down from the wall.

“Oh! We worked on building up strength training today. He’s probably got another round in him, if you’d like to see?”

“Really? That would be great, actually. I know he’ll be okay from the vet’s notes, but...”

“Nothing like seeing it yourself, is there?” Marco bit his lip and nodded sheepishly. Ace would be going mad with worry if their positions were reversed, and he squashed the ridiculous (not to mention impossible) urge to give Marco a hug.

Maybe it was because he could show off to his dad, maybe it was because he’d finally focused, but Phoenix was a star running through the training. He really was a little traitor, Ace thought, side eyeing Phoenix as he devoured the millet Ace lay out for him, cooing merrily to himself. He’d done remarkably well, truth be told, and Marco seemed ecstatic too.

“He must really like you,” Marco commented, though he sounded a little sad. Ace turned to the screen, about to reply, but it pixelated, leaving him with a human-blur smeared across the screen.

“It’s frozen!” Ace announced, which Phoenix took as a cue to hop onto his shoulder, bobbing his head at the screen. “Don’t say anything yet… I have no idea if you can hear me, just…” Ace wiggled his screen a bit, hoping that maybe that would help. Somehow.

With an odd screech sound, Marco returned to normal, frown on his face. He was closer than he’d ever been to the camera, and Phoenix let out an excited coo, hopping down to tap Marco’s face with his beak.

“I don’t know what you can see of your problem child, but he’s currently pecking my screen. He may be behaving for me sometimes, but he definitely misses you,” Ace said warmly, and he liked to think that Marco’s face softened. It was, of course, hard to tell as the screen was slightly blurred.

“Well let’s hope our connection lasts - I owe you a tour,” Marco said, and he switched the camera around so that Ace could see the rest of the room. A few people looked in his direction, but turned quickly back to whatever they’d been doing.

“So this is the office, the main one. Whitebeard has his own office, just down the corridor, though he spends so much time in here pretending he can’t work the latest updates that he might as well just come back in here.” Marco rolled his eyes, and Ace figured this was an office running gag.

“We’re all about pigeons, as you know,” Marco continued, walking out of the office. A few people waved, and Ace even saw what looked like a pigeon costume hanging by the door as they blurred past, and he smiled to himself. He had no idea what the costume could be for, but it made Ace feel more comfortable. These people weren’t just an amazing establishment – they were real people.

“So we deal with a lot of exotic species,” Marco said, walking slowly down a corridor and through a large kitchen. “This is where the food happens, not very interesting really. I’ll show you some birds though, that’s much more fun,” Marco continued, and Ace inched towards the screen slowly, aware Phoenix was doing much the same.

“So we have two sections – breeds and exotics, broadly speaking. Breeds is your general fancy pigeon breeds while the exotics are the ones we breed, manage and export all over. I’m head of exotics, while Jozu – who I will show you if I can find him – manages breeds, though he’s only temporary until we can find a proper replacement.” Marco flicked the camera around, reappearing and making Ace’s stomach twist. “He is actually more of a paper pusher type and is amazing at making things run smoothly, but our last head of breeds left a short while ago and we haven’t found a replacement just yet.”

“Ah, here we are,” Marco said, and Ace watched his appear and open the door. “Through here are our aviaries. The vet centre is just past that, and we can visit there too if you’d like, though it isn’t much different than any other. We have 18 breeds total at the moment, though you’d have to ask Jozu for  how many birds at the moment. I’m afraid I lost track with the recent hatchings.”

Ace wanted to protest because he’d seen how well Phoenix was trained, and from what Marco said he doubted anyone else had had anything to do with it. Marco seemed like the sort to know everything that was going on with his birds. Phoenix cooed, and Ace wondered if he could tell it was home.

“Shall we start with Phoenix’s friends?”

“I think he’d love that,” Ace said, laughing when Phoenix pecked the screen. “He makes me show him pictures an awful lot.”

Marco opened the aviary door, and Ace gasped when he saw the inside.

“I would kill to have that much space,” Ace breathed, but the mic must have picked it up because Marco laughed. “Er... I...”

Marco turned the camera to face himself again and grinned. “I remember that feeling, believe me. We still could use more, honestly. There’s never enough.”

Ace smiled and ran a hand through his hair, and his stomach flipped a little at Marco’s understanding look. Marco cleared his throat.

“The Yellow Trentons. Phoenix fathered a good number of them. We just sent a good number of them off to breeders though so the flock is small at the moment.” Marco focused the camera on a gorgeous bird. “And here’s Phoenix’s lady.” Phoenix practically bellowed his coo and hopped indignantly. On the screen, Lady’s head shot up, and Marco showed her the screen. The two birds stared at each other for a long moment before Phoenix tried to preen the screen.

  
“Alright,” Marco said finally, his voice a bit choked. It made Ace feel a bit better for his watery eyes. “C’mon you two, you’ll be reunited soon enough. Let me continue the tour.”

* * *

After he’d finally hung up with Ace, Marco leaned back in his chair. Ace had given him a tour of his own set up and his father’s show pigeons, and Marco had been more than impressed. Not with the space necessarily, though Ace had let it slip that he’d done everything on his with winnings from his own birds and built it himself, but with his handling of all of the birds.

And maybe his smile. But Marco shoved that thought away. Maybe instead of just information, Ace could help them start city sanctuary. His breeding program for his small flock was well designed, his birds were trained as well as any of their breeds, and he cared for them all deeply.

Marco googled his name and Striker. Ace had said he was his prizewinner at the moment, the descendant of the first racing bird he’d gotten.  His eyes went wide at the first result. Ace had been being modest. His Striker had broken speed records for racing pigeons by a significant amount. Marco smiled. He had to go see Whitebeard.

“Ah, Marco,” Whitebeard said when Marco entered his office, sheets of paper flooding the floor. “I had a problem with the photocopier. I wanted one copy of this, but I think it thought I wanted one hundred.”

Marco resisted the urge to sigh – paper was expensive, and why was he even photocopying something in the first place and not doing things digitally was beyond Marco – and set about cleaning the paper.

“You need to be more careful,” Marco said, and Whitebeard huffed good naturedly, ruffling Marco’s hair when he passed.

“I know, I know. Believe it or not, I was trying to do a good thing. I was trying to organise some of our records and get the updated stuff filed, but it backfired on me.” He shook his head, and Marco smiled. “But you didn’t come here to pick up my mess, what brings you to my corner of the world?”

Marco nodded, moving to Whitebeard’s computer and researching Ace’s winning records. Whitebeard read a few articles, humming in interest, until he reached one in particular.

“He’s Roger’s son? No wonder he’s an amazing breeder and fancier. His father was the only man I could never beat, and his mother… well she had an unbeatable record. She won every show she took part in, breeders were lining up to try and get her pigeons to breed with theirs.” Whitebeard sounded impressed, a feat not just anyone could pull off.

It worked with Marco’s plan, though, and he felt excitement bubble inside of him.

“I could try to convince him to join us. We could move the breeds section to the city, and have it as a stop off point for older exotic species that are ready to be moved onto zoos.” Whitebeard looked at him, thoughtfully. “I should meet him at the very least. And see how Phoenix is getting along.”

Whitebeard raised an eyebrow, eyes sparkling. Marco tried to think about what was odd in what he had said, for there was no other reason for the look he was getting, but couldn’t think about anything that had disclosed he might be a bit more than interested in Ace.

“You’re not going to take a carrier and bring Phoenix home then?” Whitebeard asked, smirking slightly, and Marco looked at him slowly, realising he had slipped up after all. “Take a seat, son.”

Marco did as instructed, feeling thirteen years old again after getting in trouble at school.

“If you just want to go visit Ace, I’ll drop you off at the station, and you can go see him. If you want a business venture, do that too, but you should take the time to get to know Ace first. He seems like a good man.” Whitebeard nodded, and Marco sighed, sinking low in his seat.

“I can’t just drop in on him. Plus I don’t know if he would want to meet or...” Marco trailed off, caught up in his own thoughts. He jerked back to the conversation to see he was being studied far more thoroughly than he’d like. Whitebeard’s gaze felt like it could see right through him, and Marco would bet anything that was true by how his eyes were dancing.

”Oh, Marco,” he said, leaning over to ruffle his hair. HIs laugh was warm, settling around Marco like a hug. He nodded decisively to himself, and Marco was suddenly not at all sure he should have some to Whitebeard with this. Though he _hadn’t_. He fought the urge to cross his arms and scowl like a child caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

“You’ll have to go in Fossa’s place next week. I’m afraid I need him here, and someone has to take the mature birds to the zoo.”

“I have to--” Marco stopped when Whitebeard held up a hand.

“I’m sorry, Marco, but Fossa is indispensable to me. We need to do a full vet check up on all of them, and you know how bad you are at catching them.” Whitebeard laughed. “Give you the net, and we’d be lucky to get one after a whole day.”

Marco huffed and leaned forward. “I can catch mine!”

Whitebeard raised his brows. “Now, son, you know no matter how well you train them-- and you have compensated for your lack of netting skills as well as anyone possibly could, best trained pigeons anywhere-- they _always_ know something is up and refuse to come.”

“You can’t just send me off like this! They were all checked over two weeks ago, they’re not due for a long time. ” Marco knew it was futile now that Whitebeard had made up his mind that he needed to meet Ace, but that only was enough to make him want to protest more.

“You can never be too careful,” Whitebeard said, nodding and leaning back in his desk chair. Marco sat back, sighing as he looked up at the ceiling. Fossa was going to give him hell for this. A smirk grew on his face when he pictured how he’d take the news he was going to have to round up every pigeon in the facility, and he slumped. It wasn’t like he didn’t want to meet Ace, even if he was nervous. He tried to remember the last person who’d made him this fluttery and couldn’t. Marco lips twitched into a half smile. Whitebeard was always right-- he really should know that by now.

“Fine.”

 


	2. Chapter 2

“Texting your boyfriend again?” Sabo asked, and Ace’s head jerked up from his phone so fast, he wrenched his neck.

“Ace has a boyfriend?” Luffy blinked up from where he was half asleep on the floor. It was movie night, and it was Sabo’s turn to pick. Ace wasn’t sure what they were watching, but sleeping seemed like a much better option than paying attention. Sabo had terrible taste, and it was a wonder they even let him have a turn to pick.

“Yeah, you know, the bird guy that he’s always talking to,” Sabo said, and Luffy just nodded.

“Ah, right.”

“I’m not always talking to him! And he’s certainly not my boyfriend! He’s just someone I admire.” Ace realised he’d phrased that badly as soon as it was out of his mouth. Sabo lit up, but before he could pounce, Ace continued. “Professionally!”

Ace glared down at his phone. “And no I’m not talking to him. After he gave me that tour, he’s not said anything.”

“So that’s why you’re moping over your phone.”

Ace opened his mouth to retort, looking at Luffy, who was busy picking his nose absent mindedly, for help. Of course there was no help to be had, and he sighed, giving it up.

“Whatever,” Ace said, rolling his eyes pointedly. “It doesn’t matter. Even if I did like him – which I don’t – he’s been busy and stuff. So.” Ace shrugged, pretending he didn’t care. He did, of course, and it stung a little bit that Marco hadn’t been in contact since the tour, but he was a busy man. It didn’t take much to send a text or message, sure, but Ace could understand being busy.

“Dragon says some big shot’s coming up to the city this weekend,” Sabo said, and Ace tuned out. Sabo worked with the country’s biggest herpetology organisation, and while herps were pretty cool, Ace didn’t care much about them. Instead, he grabbed the TV remote, checking the weather while Luffy was distracted.

“But why are they getting this guy then if he doesn’t know anything about the snappers?” Luffy said, sounding for once as if he actually knew what he was talking about. And he knew less about Sabo’s job than Ace did.

“First of all, you need to stop calling the river crocodiles snappers,” Sabo began, and Ace looked away from the rain emojis on the screen, disappointed. He’d wanted to take Phoenix out for a flight, but there was no way he’d risk anything if the weather was that bad. “Secondly, he’s there to give us some advice on gaining funds from this organisation. His place pitched a few years back and had a successful bid, so Dragon asked him to give us some pointers.”

Sabo shrugged, and Ace nodded in return. Dragon knew a lot of people, some shadier than others, but if he was getting in outside help, this had to be a big deal. Sabo was understandably nervous about it, and Ace wanted him to know he had his back.

“The snappers are my favourite,” Luffy plundered on, throwing Sabo a cheeky grin as he said the name. “Remember the baby one? Luffy 2?”

Ace shuddered, remembering Luffy 2 with vivid clarity. Sabo had been furious, Ace had been too busy trying to stop his chicks getting eaten, and it had ended in the biggest argument they’d all had. No one had been hurt in the end, Luffy had taken it back to its enclosure, and that had been that.

“Anyway, back to Ace’s boyfriend,” Sabo said, and Ace turned to him, fixing him with a dead stare.

“He’s not my boyfriend,” he repeated, again, and wondered whether they’d ever get the message.

“Well, back to your non-boyfriend,” Sabo corrected, in a way that made it clear he thought it was bullshit, “just message him. So what if you double message or triple message or whatever. If he’s busy, like you say, I’m sure he’ll still appreciate it.”

Ace nodded slowly, pulling his phone out and staring down at it. The screen helpfully popped on, letting him know that only minutes had passed since the last time he’d checked and that he still had no notifications. He scowled at it. It was mocking him, he knew it. Sabo caught his eye, but Ace refused to look sheepish. 

“If I were to send something-- and I am not promising anything-- what would I even say? There’s a limit on how many times I can tell him about Phoenix when nothing has changed.”

“Hi?” Luffy asked.  Ace scowled down at Luffy’s upturned face.

“Hi!? What kind of suggestion is that?”

“A good one,” Sabo put in. “It is rather traditional after all.” No one was even pretending to pay attention to the movie anymore, Luffy scrambled off the floor to wedge himself between Ace and the arm of the sofa. Ace made a disapproving noise, but he was glad for his brothers’ support.

“But... then it just looks like I want to talk to him. For no real reason.”

“You do,” Luffy said, tilting his head in confusion.

“When did I say that? This is all hypothetical,” Ace crossed his arms. His brothers gave him eerily similar looks of exasperation, and Ace huffed.

“Right.” Sabo dragged out the word, sarcasm oozing from the word. 

“I’m serious. He’s a busy man. Why would he want to talk to me?” Ace fiddled with his phone, checking once again that he still had no messages.

“You won’t ever find out if you don’t send something.” Sabo was looking beyond exasperated, and Ace figeted, biting his lip.

Luffy sighed and turned back to the TV. 

“I didn’t think Ace was a coward,” he said morosely, and Ace shot up from his slouch, turning to face Luffy.

“What?”

“I don’t know, Ace. He has a point,” Sabo said, and Ace threw up his hands.

“Fine! You want me to send him a text, I’ll send him a text, but this was low even for you!” Ace’s eyes narrowed das he looked between his brothers. “Don’t think I don’t know what you did.”

Luffy laughed, and the nerves that had been fluttering in Ace’s chest eased. He grinned and shook his head, unlocking his phone. Sabo leaned in, resting his head on Ace’s shoulder, watching as he typed, and hummed.

“Maybe add a how are you?” Ace shot him a glance and felt his shrug more than saw for how pressed together they were. “It seems polite.”

Ace considered that, worrying at his bottom lip. He nodded to himself and started typing. 

 

_ Hi, how are you?  _

 

“Bit simple don’t you think?” Sabo asked, and Ace growled and swatted at him. Luffy snickered, leaning in to read it.

“I think it is great!” He took advantage of Sabo’s and Ace’s tussle to press send.

“Oi, Luffy!” Ace protested, but it was halfhearted at best as gratitude welled up at being saved the anxiety of actually pressing the send button. Luffy shrugged.

“At least now we can watch some of the movie,” he said, gesturing towards the screen. His innocent expression was just too good, Ace decided. Not that he would let Luffy know that. He was dangerous enough on his own.

“Do you even know what’s going on?” Sabo asked, and Luffy dug a finger into his nose.

“It’s a mystery,” he said and nodded like he’d made a great pronouncement. 

“Do you even know what it’s about, Sabo?” Ace asked. “You picked it out, after all. Shouldn’t you know?”  Ace’s phone buzzed, and he froze.

It was fine, he thought. Maybe it was a message from his mother or father, maybe even Chopper. Just because his phone had buzzed didn’t mean Marco had messaged him back so soon. Oh god how long had it been? A minute? Five? Twenty?

“Ace?” Luffy asked, half-mumbled, and Ace looked at him, hand reaching for his phone to shield it from Luffy.

“It might not be him,” Ace replied, and he could literally feel Sabo rolling his eyes. “Fine,” he continued, looking at his phone screen and fighting his smile. Of course it was Marco, anyone else would have sent an IM and that had a distinct trill tone attached to it. He’d known it was Marco since the first buzz.

 

_ Hey! Good, aside from the fact I’ve been painfully reminded how I never want to work with reptiles ever in my life. You? _

 

Ace frowned at the screen, wondering where the hell Marco was that he was dealing with reptiles. The place he worked at only dealt with birds – pigeons if he had to be specific. Maybe there was a weird infestation. That happened in the countryside, right?

 

_ Shit, hope you’re alright? What happened, did a giant sea gecko swarm the flights? _

 

Ace bit his lip, wondering if he was being a complete tool. He glanced over at Luffy, who seemed to be studying him closely, and decided that whatever he put was never going to be as bad as what Luffy would say if he ever met Marco.

 

_ I’m good, thanks, having a slow day with my brothers. Gonna do some training with some of the younger juveniles I have, start getting them prepared for showing this summer _

 

Ace sent the message and set his phone down, sighing. How could such small messages be so much stress?

“When’s the wedding?” Sabo asked, and Ace turned to stare at him, shaking his head slowly. “Alright, only joking. Seriously though, he replied quickly – it’s a good sign for you.”

It was, really, Ace supposed. But he had no idea if Marco was seeing someone, or even if he’d be interested in men. Or if he’d be interested in Ace. But Ace was getting ahead of himself, really, no matter what teasing he received.

“Can both of you go and find people I can tease you about right now?” Ace said, and Luffy laughed loudly, rolling onto his back and kicking his legs up in the air.

“That would be boring,” he commented, unusually dry for Luffy, and Ace sighed. That just left Sabo, and Sabo was about interested in chasing romance right now as he was switching careers to study lemurs. Which was to say not interested in the slightest.

“You two are boring,” Ace shot back childishly, grabbing Luffy’s feet and pulling him close, intent on pushing him off the sofa. He had managed to pull Luffy closer, when his phone buzzed again, and Ace abandoned all thoughts of attacking Luffy to peer at his screen, smiling the instant he saw Marco’s name.

 

_ Brothers, huh? I have quite a few myself. I’d wish you luck, but most are better behaved than mine from what I can tell. _

 

Ace snorted and showed Sabo. 

 

_ Oh, you’d be surprised. Movie night was apparently code for “Let’s drive Ace absolutely mad” _

 

“How little he knows you two...” Ace trailed off at the wide-eyed expression on Sabo’s face. He was frozen, shock on the verge of melting into glee. Ace edged away.

“His name is Marco? Marco the bird guy?” Sabo asked, and Ace pulled back, leaning into Luffy to study him.

“Yeah?” He dragged the word out, and Sabo inhaled sharply, eyes growing even wider. “He’s over at Whitebeard’s... I’m not sure exactly what he does actually, but he’s pretty high up from the sound of it.” Sabo started grinning madly, and Ace’s stomach sank. “Why? What is it?”

“Well, you know about the higher up that you’ve been ignoring me talking about?” Ace looked away back to the movie. Something very sad was clearly happening from the looks of it. Deeply moving. Sabo elbowed him hard in the ribcage, and Ace gave up, shurgging.

“Uh...” Sabo rolled his eyes, but Luffy gasped and sprung up to tackle Ace.

“He’s the one that fought with Luffy 2 today! He said he didn’t like reptiles!” Shock slammed into Ace, knocking his stomach straight down to his feet. Sabo turned to Ace and froze as well.

“Oh,” he said softly. “If you didn’t know...” Luffy’s chatter ceased and he tightened his hold around Ace as he looked back and forth between them.

“He’s in town,” Ace said, his lips numb and stumbling over the words.

“Not exactly?” Sabo offered weakly, but Ace shook his head.

“Less than an hour away and he never mentioned it.” Ace’s smile felt like it was about to shatter at any moment, like thousand year-old paper-- a breath from crumbling into dust. “Told you he was just being polite.” Ace tossed his phone into the old armchair in the corner. He didn’t want to see it mocking him any more tonight.

Sabo slung an arm over his shoulder wordlessly as Luffy snuggled in closer, and they turned together back to the movie.

* * *

 

Marco hummed under his breath, a smile ghosting across his lips. Ace clearly hadn’t met his brothers.  _ Yet _ , part of him whispered, and Marco’s smile grew. He was looking forward to meeting Ace’s in two days when he went to pick up Phoenix. Marco froze. 

_ Shit _ . He’d forgotten to tell Ace he would be the one to pick up Phoenix in all the rush of putting together the presentation for the herps people. Marco scowled. Whitebeard really could have helped him on that, after dumping it in his lap. Why hadn’t Fossa even started on it? He hadn’t had a full night’s sleep in days because of that idiot. He shook his head and turned back to his phone.

 

_ Oh, by the way, I took Fossa’s place, so I’ll be seeing you in two days instead of him.  _

 

Marco bit his lip and sighed. After another read through, he shook his head and deleted it, glaring at his phone. Why was this so hard? Marco pictured Whitebeard’s smirk if he could see him now and took a deep breath.

 

_ I’m sorry I’ve been so absent lately. My brother who was coming to meet you and do a presentation for this herps organisation was needed at home, so I was thrown into his place. I had to scramble to put everything together for it, but I’ll be the one picking up Phoenix in a couple days. If that’s alright still.  _

 

Marco bit the inside of his cheek and sighed. There was nothing decent he could say in this text. He was going to look like a dick no matter what he said, and Marco decided that, when he got back, he was going to make Whitebeard listen to his plans. Said plans being to split the two divisions, keeping the exotic breeding centre and rescue site in the countryside while taking Marco’s show pigeon centre to the city, with a short term rescue site accompanying it. There was big money to be gained, and being in the city would raise more funds and cut the travelling costs.

He had no idea if the plans would ever work, but Marco wanted to try, if only to see if he could have something with Ace. If he hadn’t messed everything up by forgetting to tell him he was close by.

“Idiot,” Marco muttered to himself, drawing an odd look from the peoples sharing the shuttle with him. It was the fastest way to get around the city – in a little train-like carriage above the city – and Marco had forgotten that other people might actually hear him berating himself.

Shuffling slightly, Marco decided just to hit send and let his message float off into the world. Whatever happened would happen, and Marco turned his phone over, so the screen was against his thigh. He wouldn’t have to watch the minutes tick by and wait to see if Ace would reply. Which he probably wouldn’t now.

Marco closed his eyes, letting the soft hum of the shuttle lull him into a light doze. It was early evening, and he was looking forward to having a bath at the hotel. His arm still stung a little from where Luffy 2 (he had no idea what Luffy 1 was, but Marco didn’t think he wanted to meet it) had grazed the skin. It had been Marco’s fault, of course, and he didn’t blame Luffy 2 at all, but still. He’d stick to pigeons, thank you very much Fossa.

His phone beeped, and Marco’s eyes opened slowly. He wanted to think it was Ace, hoped with all his might, and his heart sank when he saw it was a newsletter-type message from his pigeon club. It had vital information, but it wasn’t the message Marco wanted right now.

He was about to lock his phone when it beeped again, and Marco’s heart raced when Ace’s name flashed across his screen. He opened the message quickly, eyes scanning the words and sinking back in his seat with relief.

_ Oh! I had no idea. My brother works at the reptile centre so I kinda knew you were around, but I didn’t really get it. I was a bit worried, actually _

Marco reread the text and frowned. He had no idea why Ace was worried, if anything he should just be annoyed at Marco.

Taking a deep breath, Marco decided to cut the texting altogether and ring Ace. His leg jerked up and down as the ring tone sounded, and he waited for Ace to pick up. It rang and rang, and Marco’s hand tightened on his phone. The woman next to him was giving him a sympathetic look, and Marco forced down a scowl. His stomach tightened as he began mentally rehearsing a groveling voicemail. 

“Hello?” Ace’s voice snagged at his heart, and the tension melted out of him. He smiled goofily, forgetting Ace couldn’t very well hear a smile. “Hello? Marco, are you there?”

Marco straightened, letting himself glare at the woman next to him this time now that she was openly snickering at him. “Um- yeah, I mean hello.” Marco turned resolutely towards the window and took a deep breath.

“Hi,” Ace said, when Marco dropped off into silence again. “Um, how are you?” Marco heard muffled laughter in the background and Ace whispering something and a loud thud and grinned.

“I’m good. How are you?”

“I’d be better if some people would learn to shut up. Sorry about that. I’ll move away. One sec.” Marco bit his lips at the scuffling that followed.

Ace’s voice was muffled but Marco could still make out the words. “I’ll tell you about it later...Yes, promise!” There was a pause as someone else’s voice answered, though Marco couldn’t hear that well. “Well, watch your stupid movie!...You’re the one that picked it...Yes of course it is better that when Luffy gets to pick, but really that isn’t saying much, is it?

“Okay, I’m back.”

“Please tell me that that Luffy isn’t related to the one I met today.” Ace’s laugh was bright and warmed Marco despite the dreary wet night.

“Well, they do know each other. Sabo did mention something about their visitor having some fun with Luffy 2, but I wasn’t really listening.” Marco’s eyes widened as he pictured the man he’d met early today, who’d been the one to eventually rescue him from his predicament with Luffy 2. He’d been Ace’s brother, and he hadn’t even known.

“Sabo is your brother?” 

“Yeah, and the original Luffy too. I’d never told him your name, so he had no idea that you were... Phoenix’s owner.” Marco’s heart lifted a bit at the hesitation when Ace had been about to refer to him, but he sighed. Of course that was all he was.

“So you’ve been talking about me, hm?” he asked before he could think better of it, and Ace sputtered.

“Well... uh... of course... I mean, well, I had to tell them about Phoenix, and you’re... you know.” Marco’s breath caught, and he laughed. “Rude,” Ace said, and Marco shook his head, watching as the city flew by. He was almost at the stop where his hotel was supposed to be.

“Sorry, it’s just the reason I got this presentation dumped on me was...” Marco trailed off, deciding he wasn’t quite ready to go there, even if Ace had been talking about him. It didn’t mean anything necessarily, and it wasn’t the time. “Anyway, is Wednesday still okay? I can stop by after another meeting with Dragon.”

Ace was quiet a moment, and Marco was almost about to check if the call had dropped when he finally responded. 

“Are you sure?” Ace said, and Marco felt his stomach twist with nerves. Why was Ace asking him that? “I mean you’re busy with stuff and I know you care about Phoenix and all, but…” he trailed off, and Marco leant back against his seat, shaking his head.

“I wanted to see you,” Marco confessed, tilting his head back slightly. “As well as Phoenix, obviously. Just… I don’t want to push my luck.” He glanced around the carriage, pleased to see that it was almost empty after the last stop. Everyone else was paying mind to their own worlds, and so Marco was left to his own devices, precariously on the edge of hoping Ace still wanted to see him.

“Ah,” Ace said in a rush, as if he’d been holding tension in. “Good. I mean yeah it’s good.” There was an awkward pause. “What time?”

“Whatever works for you really. I mean I should be done at the centre by 2pm, so yeah.” Marco smiled to himself. “I don’t want to impose.”

He felt like a stranger again, as if he hadn’t been talking on and off with Ace for ages. Why was he being ridiculous?

“That sounds great,” Ace said, and he sounded genuinely pleased. Maybe Marco hadn’t cocked this all up after all. “Though you might have to fight me for Phoenix. He’s totally taken a shine to me. I bet he loves me way more than you now,” Ace said, and his voice was full of light-hearted humour. He didn’t mean a word he said, but the words settled Marco, and he gave a huff of laughter.

“Alright then, if you keep Phoenix, what do I get?” Marco shifted, glancing out at the window at the setting sun. “Or you know,” he ventured, feeling brave. “You get Phoenix and I get you.”

Ace burst into laughter, and Marco closed his eyes, relief flooding through him.

“You’d need a big cage,” Ace said, giving a small sigh. “But sure! It’s a lot easier than thinking for myself, I’ll tell you that.”

Marco hummed to himself. The shuttle came to a stop, and he glanced out of the window, standing and exiting smoothly. His hotel was close to this station, and Marco was thankful he could crawl into bed soon. It had been a long day.

“So whereabouts are you? You said you were sort of an annexe off your parent’s house, right?” Marco asked, and Ace agreed over the line, reeling off an address.

“Don’t worry though, I’ll shoot you a text with it in. And I’ll send you the directions map. Some people think it’s super hard to find, but I think they just get caught by my dad at the driveway and are scared of him. He’s a super nice guy. A bit much sometimes, though,” Ace mused. Marco could understand that. Everyone’s dad was a bit much sometimes, he thought.

“I just hope that when I go back mine won’t have broken his computer in a supposed rage because he didn’t know how to print. That happened last time. I swear he just does it to wind me up and has a laptop somewhere which he actually works off of.” Ace laughed again, and the sound warmed Marco’s core.

His smile was wide and bright, and when he met the eyes of the bored looking attendant, they smiled back automatically.

“Right... so Wednesday then?” Marco’s heart felt lighter than it had in weeks, than since he sent Phoenix on that flight which had seemed ill-fated, but now made Marco muse about fate more than he was comfortable with. Ace hummed in ascent and a silence wrapped around them. 

Marco walked by the front desk, nodding at the clerk, and headed straight for the elevator. He was so glad he didn’t have to check in, having taken care of that earlier. Crawling into bed was all he wanted to do at them moment. Though he didn’t want to hang up exactly either, even if nothing was being said. The elevator beeped as it reached Marco’s level, and Ace sighed.

“Sabo said you had a hard day, so I should let you go grab dinner and relax.” Ace sounded as reluctant as Marco felt.

“I was going to skip dinner, honestly.” Marco’s lips quirked at Ace’s gasp of horror and unlocked his door with his thumbprint. He threw down his stuff while Ace recovered. 

“Unacceptable. I bet you didn't even get lunch today “

Marco flopped on the bed and let out a contented groan, stretching his spine. He thought back, biting his lip. “I think I ate something? There were doughnuts.”

“See? I've had the doughnuts at Sabo’s work. Bloody awful.” Ace scoffed, making Marco's lips twitch into another smile. His face was tired from smiling, unused to such activity this last week. “ And I eat everything,” Ace continued. “No, what you need is... Where are you staying?” Excitement coiled in Marco's belly. He wouldn't...

“It's downtown, right? I heard you on the shuttle. There's this pizza place that will blow your mind.” 

“I don't know...”

“Aww c’mon, Marco, I'll call. Just give me your hotel and room number, take a shower, and it will be there waiting for you.” As he rattled off the information to Ace, Marco told himself he gave in because his stomach was growling and not because of Ace's wheedling tone, which caused hordes of butterflies to take off in his stomach.

“This is awfully inconvenient,” Marco groused as Ace muttered to himself as he ordered. “Now I have to get up.” Ace's laughter sparked through him, and he grinned goofily at the ceiling. 

“I am sorry for all the trouble.”

“Well, I suppose having someone care enough to fuss is alright.” Ace coughed, and Marco was suddenly consumed with the need to know if he was blushing. His nerves jittered pleasantly under his skin, and suddenly Marco couldn't be still anylong, despite aching to collapse into a heap for the better part of the day. He swung up, striding to the door, stopping abruptly when he realised what he was doing.

“What did you order me?” Marco asked after a beat of silence, worrying at his lip. He'd gone too far probably, but there was no taking back his words now.

“It's a surprise,” Ace said at once, his words a bit more unsure, almost forced.

“A surprise,” Marco repeated, voice low. He looked to the side of the bed, at the small, holographic clock there. They probably had 20 minutes before the delivery showed up, and Marco bit the inside of his cheek. 

“Yeah,” Ace agreed, and there was a shuffle in the background. “Right, that’s all done then,” he commented, more to himself than Marco, and Marco decided to plunge in.

“Where are you?” He asked, eyes drifting to the clock again. He shifted on the bed, shuffling until he was completely on it, feet and all.

“In my bedroom,” Ace said lightly, and there was a slight pause as if he was considering whether that was something he should have said. “In bed actually.” Again, Ace’s voice was light, but there was an edge to it, and Marco raised an eyebrow, the hint of a smile curling his lips. 

“Oh,” he replied, swallowing thickly. He’d only done something like this once before, and while it hadn’t exactly been terrible, Marco had hardly been as suave as he’d hoped. He doubted he’d be anything but suave now, especially with the time constraint, but hey. In for a penny and all that.

“So do you…” Ace began, trailing off. “Do you like your hotel?”

Marco smiled to himself, settling a hand heavily on his thigh. 

“It’s alright. Decent enough bed, the walls are a soft colour rather than a white that makes me want to tear my hair out. I have a good view of the city too.” There was silence, and Marco knew Ace was even more nervous than he was.

“I think about you a lot, you know,” Marco blurted out, because what else was he meant to say? They hadn’t discussed where they stood with each other yet, so this was a deep plunge, really. 

“Yeah?” Ace commented, his voice dipping. There was the rustle of movement, and Marco hoped Ace was shimmying his hand down his pants. That’s where Marco’s hand was headed, after all, and he sank back against the headboard, humming in agreement.

“Yeah,” Marco agreed, shifting his clothes down his hips, leaving them at his shins.

“And what do you think?” Ace asked, voice less shy and more curious. He was getting into this, Marco knew, and he licked his lips.

“That you’re pretty amazing, I mean Phoenix doesn’t just trust anyone,” Marco added in quickly, hoping Ace would know this wasn’t just a quick booty call. “But that you’re gorgeous too.”

Not quite sexy enough, or sleazy-sexy anyway, but Ace needed to know it. 

There was a soft breath on the other side of the line, and Marco’s nails dug into his thigh. “I think about you all the time.” Ace’s words were rushed, and Marco’s lips quirked. “It’s really rather distracting you know. After that Skype call, I couldn’t get you out of my mind, and I haven’t even seen all of you, but god, Marco, you’re...” Ace made a garbled sort of moan that had Marco’s hips jerking, and he hissed out a breath.

“I wish you were here to see what you do to me,” Ace said softly, and Marco’s breath caught. Marco closed his eyes, and let image of Ace sprawled out on a bed, naked, skin flushed, chest heaving, phone cradled against his shoulder as Ace’s hands wandered to thoughts of him. He took his cock in hand, already with just a light squeeze to take the edge off, and bit his lip at the slow spiral of pleasure building up.

“If I were there,” Marco began, but paused. They were already doing this, but he didn’t want to mess this thing (whatever it might be) with Ace up, and was this really such a good idea? They’d never acknowledged any attraction between them, they’d never strayed too far from professional conversation. He was supposed to ask Ace out in a couple days, when he met him.

“Yeah?” Ace prompted, his voice rough and already a bit needy, and Marco’s worries slipped out of his grasp.

“What would you want me to do to you?” Marco asked, and Ace’s breath hitched. Marco’s hand tightened on his cock, sucking in a breath slowly as he wondered what had made Ace react like that. A flick of a thumb? Merely his question?   

“I’ve thought about that quite a bit, you know.” Marco hummed in response, starting to move his hand in long languid strokes, his hips twitching with the need to move.

“Any conclusions?” Marco asked, and Ace’s chuckle went a shiver of pleasure down Marco’s spine. 

“Besides that it’s going to take much more than just one time?”  Marco’s back arched, and a muffled moan escaped him, pleasure welling up in his belly and making him squirm with the need to touch Ace, to taste him. An image of him, head thrown back, exposing his throat flashed though Marco’s mind, and he bit down on his lip. “I really want to suck you off.”

Ace groaned at the thought of having Marco in his mouth, and Marco’s hand jerked, pumping his cock in earnest, his mind black but for the thought of Ace on his knees, swollen lips wrapped around his dick as Marco fucked into his mouth. 

“I bet you do,” Marco said, voice deep. He closed his eyes and a sigh escaped him. The sound must have spurred Ace on, for he began to talk.

“Imagine it though. I’m on my knees, hands on your thighs. Your skin is warm, maybe we’ve been in bed all morning, relaxing and doing absolutely nothing. It’s a lazy day, nothing to do except fuck around, so just imagine that,” Ace said, voice emboldened as Marco hummed over the line. He curved his hand a little, fingers brushing his balls as he moved his hand down.

“I’m listening,” he said slowly, trying to keep his voice steady. Ace didn’t need to know what he did to Marco just yet. Some things were worth keeping held back until later.

“First of all I do it lightly, just to tease you. I take you gently in my mouth, just to make you wet, and then I pull back, leaving you wanting more,” Ace said, a raw groan escaping him as he paused. Marco drew his bottom lip between his teeth, letting his head turn up to the ceiling as he stroked himself slowly, a smile curling his lips.

“I’d hate that,” Marco commented, his toes twitching as he picked up his pace.

“Nah you wouldn’t,” Ace shot back, laughing. “You’d fucking love it, and you know it. Because then I’d use my hand to play with your balls, just before I grip the base of your dick. Not hard, just a warning, because there no way you’re coming until I’ve had my taste of you properly.”

Marco’s eyes rolled back and he groaned. Of course Ace would tease him. He shouldn’t have expected anything less, and Marco was more than happy to give himself completely over to him.

“And, ah,” Ace said, letting out a small noise of satisfaction. “I bet you taste amazing. So amazing that I don’t think I’d be able to stop sucking you off.” He sounded so pleased with himself, and Marco brought his leg up, staving off the curl of pleasure in his belly.

“I wouldn’t want you to stop,” Marco admitted, opening his eyes slightly. He could imagine Ace between his legs, grinning up at him as he went down, as if Marco’s dick was the best thing in the world.

“Of course not,” Ace snorted, grunting slightly a second later. “I’d push you back, stop you from trying to take control. I’m the one deciding how slow we go this time, and there no way I’d let you fuck my mouth when I want to take it slow.” He drew out the last words, huffing down the line, and Marco smiled.

“Oh,” he said, gripping his cock and squeezing his eyes closed. Ace had no idea what he was doing to Marco, how his confidence was just what Marco wanted right now. “I’ll be at your complete mercy then,” Marco said, the muscles of his stomach tingling as he began to move his hand again, almost thoughtfully as he waited for Ace’s reply.

  
Ace was silent a moment, but for the puffing of his breath,and Marco relished in his distraction. Finally, his breath back under control, Ace hummed agreement, but it came out half moan in a way strummed against Marco's skin teasingly. He threw his head back and gripped the base of his cock tight enough to keep him focused on the sound of Ace's voice. “Would you-- ah, would you behave for me? Or would I have to hold you to a wall, keep you in check?” Just like that the hand keeping him from the edge became Ace's as the other scrabbled for hold on the mussed duvet.   
  
Marco let out a sharp laugh."You're driving me mad, Ace. It's taking all my focus just to stay upright and fuck your mouth until you're gagging for me and loving it." Marco twisted his fingers around the head of his cock, picturing it was Ace's tongue teasing and licking his way up Marco's dick. He reached the base and turned his attention to his balls hissing out a breath, dizzy with pleasure and Ace's quiet whimper.   
  
"There are going to be nail marks on your hips in the morning, I'm holding you so hard into the wall." Marco unclenched his hand and brought it up to dig into his hip obligingly, groaning as the slight pain went straight to his dick. "It's killing me too, but I need to savor you, catch every taste, every cut off moan I can tease out if you. I've been dreaming about this so long and I have to know the reality."   
  
Marco moaned, his breath in ragged pants as he continued to tease. "I need to touch myself so bad, but that will have to wait. For now there's only you.” Ace's words were scattered, and Marco could tell his teeth were gritted. He could see him in his own bed miles away, eyes scrunched closed trembling and rutting at the air, desperate for a touch. Marco's nails dug in harder as he fought for breath.   
  
"Finally, though, I can't take it." Ace sounded absolutely wrecked as he let a moan. "I need you, need to watch you come apart, so I swallow you down and suck you properly." Pleasure gathered in his stomach and left Marco gasping as he speed up his hand in accordance with Ace's words.   
  
"Ace," he moaned, shuddering as Ace let out a satisfied noise, almost possessive. "Ace, I can't-- I need--"   
  
"No," Ace said, and Marco whimpered, hips bucking against his own hold. "Not yet, Marco." Just the way his name sounded, drenched in need and  had Marco trembling with the need to come, and he writhed, twisting up the blankets, but keeping up the relentless rhythm. Ace's breathing was erratic now, and it was too easy to slip into what they'd built together, to feel the wall digging into his back as Ace swallowed him, spit and precome dripping down his chin obscenely.    
  
"Did you reach down to wrap a hand around your cock?" Marco asked stiltedly, desperate for distraction. Ace laughed breathlessly, seeing right through him, and Marco's lips quirked into a smile.    
  
“Maybe,” Ace muttered, and Marco took a shaky breath, squeezing his eyes shut tightly. “Or maybe I’ve been touching myself the entire time, unable to take it.”

Marco gave a wry grin hand slipping against his skin. He grazed his cock lightly, thinking of Ace, and he could hear his thoughts echoed on the other end, Ace turning his attention to himself. They didn’t need dirty words or fake moans, just knowing Ace was on the other end of the phone touching himself was enough to send Marco almost over, and he jerked his hand slowly, feeling the build of his orgasm rise in his stomach.

He had no idea who came first or how long it had been since they’d last spoken, but Marco lay back on the bed, chest rising rapidly as he heard Ace sigh in satisfaction, sheets shuffling.

“Well…” he said, and Marco could imagine the look he had on his face, a slight-embarrassed, slight-joyful look that Marco knew would drive him mad.

“I’m a mess now,” Marco replied, looking down at himself and frowning. He shuffled over and moved to the bathroom, eyes widening as the hotel’s phone rang. Of course – his food.

“It seems like the food got here quicker than expected,” Marco said, and Ace hummed smugly. He quickly answered the other phone, allowing them to send up the delivery, and Marco frowned down at himself again.

“I have come all over me,” he mumbled, a roar of laughter sounding on the other end of the phone. At least someone was taking amusement from this, Marco thought, and he rushed to dump what clothes he still had on in the bathroom while grabbing the fluffy robe. Thank god the fluffy robes never went out of style.

The delivery guy didn’t even bat an eyelid, stating the food had already been paid for and leaving Marco with a warm, cardboard box. He could smell the pizza, and Marco’s mouth watered.

“So maybe you were right,” Marco said as he picked his phone back up from where he’d thrown it on the bed.

“I know,” Ace said, around a mouthful of something. There was a slurp as he drank something and then, “though I’m not sure what about in this instance.”

Marco rolled his eyes, climbing under the sheets and pulling his pizza on his lap. He never ate food in bed at home on account of crumbs, but this was a hotel. It was the craziest he was going to get anyway, so why not live a little.

“I do need proper food,” Marco said, and he opened the pizza box, raising an eyebrow at the toppings. “Really Ace? Really?”

There was a snort of laughter on the other end, and Marco picked off a piece of pineapple.

“Lucky for you, these are my favourite toppings,” Marco commented lightly, and there was an odd pause on the other end of the line, as if Ace had never expected that.

“Really?” he asked, and Marco picked out a slice, sinking back into the pillows.

“Hmm, well I do like Hawaiian pizza best. I can’t say I’ve ever had it with anchovies and tuna, but they add something.” Ace made a noise of delight that had Marco smiling around his pizza.

“I’m glad you like it.” There was silence as Marco finished up his first slice and grabbed another. He’d have to take a shower after this, but Ace had been right. Collapsing in bed would have been a mistake. “I should probably let you eat in peace,” Ace said finally, and Marco’s heart clenched. He set down the half finished piece of pizza.

“I’m sure you have better things to do than listen to me eat,” he said, and Ace snorted. 

“I’d like to think that I do but...” Ace trailed off, and it was Marco’s turn to laugh.

“I’ll see you Wednesday then?” Marco kept his voice steady, but especially now, the thought of actually getting to meet Ace turned his knees and thoughts to mush. Ace hummed in agreement, and they were silent a minute.

“I really like you,” Ace said, and Marco let a goofy grin split his face. “I’m really glad you called.”

“Me too. I mean I like you too.” Marco ran a hand through his hair. “Can I take you out Wednesday?”

“I’d like that.” Marco could hear the grin in Ace’s voice and his heart felt so light he thought he might just float away.

A yawn interrupted whatever he was about to say, which, Marco reflected, was probably for the best as he was pretty sure it would have made little sense, and Ace chuckled.

“You need to go to bed from the sound of it, so I really will let you go. Good night Marco.”

“G’night, Ace.”

After hanging up, the hotel room seemed empty, and Marco scarfed his pizza and rushed through a quick shower, sparing a thought to give thanks he had enough clothes packed not to need to wear today’s again. He tumbled into a bed that smelled of pizza and sex and drifted off, his mind full of Ace.


	3. Chapter 3

“Absolutely not.” Sabo kept running around feeding pigeons, filling waters, and checking all of the automatic systems, so Ace tried to raise his voice, but it was not quite six in the morning and despite falling asleep soon after his call with Marco, all he wanted to do was crawl back into his warm covers.  “No.”

Sabo paid no heed as he finished off the last of Ace’s chores and went to the sink to wash his hands. He’d let himself in before five to drag Ace out of bed and start on his chores. “You have no excuse. You come to work with me all the time. Your pigeons will be taken care of. You’re coming to meet him.”

“But he’s coming over here tomorrow.” Sabo looked at him, his expression screaming “And?”, and Ace sighed. “I don’t want to get in the way of his work?”

  
“Ha! That was a question. I’ve already won, and you know it, so c’mon, let’s grab some breakfast and head in.”

“Sabo,” Ace hissed, pausing as a pigeon circled his ankle, cooing up at him. He smiled, reached down to preen its neck with a finger, and sighed as he realised Sabo had snuck off.

And then a horrible thought hit Ace right in the stomach, and his eyes widened. The pigeon he’d been stroking gave an indignant hoo, before it realised there was more corn, and that was far more important than anything else.

“Sabo don’t,” Ace whispered, half-running into the house. “I know what you’re going to do,” he hissed, searching for Sabo. He wasn’t in the kitchen, or the hallway. Ace hoped he’d be in time, but the odds were looking as if they were stacked against him.

“I’ve missed Luffy 2!” a roar came, and Ace stilled, closing his eyes and scrunching them up. He hoped it was a dream, honestly, and that he hadn’t really heard Luffy agreeing to go to Sabo’s work. It could be a dream. It had to be.

“Ace! Sabo told me we’re going to see Luffy 2!” Luffy was out of his room and practically bouncing off all the walls. He’d barely registered Luffy flopping onto his bed as Sabo had cheerily woken him up that morning, and he sighed. Luffy had been the not-so-secret-secret-weapon then.

“I hate you,” Ace said as Sabo exited the bedroom, smug grin in place. “You are pure evil.”

“Sure,” Sabo agreed, rolling his eyes. “But I had a feeling you’d refuse to go, and Luffy’s been bugging me to come into work. Two birds one stone and all,” Sabo said, raising an eyebrow as if Ace should be proud of his bird analogy. Ace sighed heavily, hoping Sabo got that he was not amused at all.

“Fine, fine,” Sabo said, glancing towards the kitchen, where there was a loud clattering of pots and pans. “But we better get that one fed before he wakes your parents up.”

That was something they could agree on, Ace thought, and he headed towards the kitchen. Luffy had, strangely, only filled one worktop with mess, and he grinned guiltily as Ace stood in the doorway.

“You’re lucky my parents adore you,” Ace muttered, grabbing some bread from the cupboard and pushing Luffy into a seat at the table. “Now sit there and behave,” he commended, and Luffy let his head fall against the table, eyes half-closed.

“I heard we’re going to see Marco today,” Luffy commented, and Ace decided that his toast was going to get a little bit burnt. “Sabo’s going to introduce us.”

It was Sabo’s turn to get Ace’s glare, and he just shrugged, turning back to his newspaper. Which looked like it was one of Rouge’s boring financial newspapers (Ace had no idea how she kept up with all that stuff, but whatever she did it worked and she understood the money markets better than most people), and there was no way Sabo was actually reading it.

“How lovely,” Ace said through gritted teeth, setting down various condiments on the table. In preparation for their stack of toast. “But in all seriousness, back off if I do see him, okay? It’s weird enough you’re dragging me to your work, I don’t want the two of you crawling all over him the moment we see him. Just… give me some time, okay? You can meet him with me after lunch or something, but let me at least say hi on my own before.”

Luffy lifted his head, nodding slowly. Sabo smiled, abandoning the newspaper. Ace dodged their all-too-knowing gazes, cheeks flaming at the thought of meeting Marco after last night, to fetch the cups down, and they must have decided they’d pushed enough (or were just easily distracted by breakfast) for talk turned to Luffy 2 and whether or not he’d remember his namesake.

They all piled into Sabo’s beat up old car soon after, Rouge and Roger waving them off the dishes as soon as they came downstairs, following the scent of bacon. Sabo had managed to keep Luffy out of their plates for once, and Ace shook his head at how his parents always spoiled his brothers. He’d have had to do his own dishes for sure.

Luffy blasted his music the whole drive there, and by the time they’d arrived, Ace had almost forgotten to be nervous, too full of laughter for anxiety to sink in. He imagined pacing the floor at home, waiting on Marco to come, heart in his throat or staring at the phone tonight, wondering if he should call, and wrapped an arm around each of his brothers.

“Idiots,” he said, hugging them tight, and they both grinned. He knew they knew exactly what he meant, that he’d never have to outright thank them because they already knew. The moment of perfect accord settled heavy between them for a moment, and Ace ruffled Luffy’s hair, earning a whine.

Sabo intervened before they could get to outright wrestling in the parking lot, herding them inside with a long suffering air.

“This is my place of work. You could at least try to act like the adults you supposedly are,” he huffed, but he was unable to keep his lips from twitching.

“Why?” Ace asked.

“My dad would probably just join in,” Luffy said and Ace snorted. Dragon had been away saving rare species of reptiles most of their lives, leaving Luffy with Garp just as Roger and Rouge had done with Ace. He’d taken Sabo with him when not even Garp could get his parents put away for their abuse because of their connections. Now that he was back, he wavered between doting on them and treating them like adults.

“True, but he’d turn it into a training thing, and he learned how to do that from the old man. Better not to tread down that path,” Sabo said, and Ace and Luffy immediately straightened and headed to the gates. “Now, c’mon and help me get the feeds ready before the meeting starts.”

“Can we start with Luffy 2?” Luffy asked, bouncing up and down, and Sabo rolled his eyes over Luffy’s head at Ace, who smirked. That was what he deserved for inviting him along to ensure Ace wouldn’t get out of meeting Marco.

“Yeah, why not?” Sabo said, and Ace snickered as they went through the gates and headed toward the kitchen.

“Excuse me?” The familiar voice had Ace miss a step, and he turned slowly. “Oh, Sabo, right? I’m not exactly sure where I’m supposed to...” Marco trailed off as his eyes caught on Ace and widened. “Ace?”

Ace’s eyebrows shot up as it finally registered that Marco was _right there in front of him_ , and he glanced towards his brothers, as if they could explain this quirk of luck.

“I need to go delegate enclosure cleaning jobs and take this one to meet his progeny – if you just had around to the education centre when you’re done Ace?” Sabo said, and Ace nodded wordlessly, watching as Luffy bounced off, Sabo shooting unsubtle looks over his shoulder.

Which left him alone with Marco for the first time. And, obviously, all Ace could think about was how he’d had one of the best orgasms of his entire life over the phone with the very man standing before him.

“Um,” Ace said intelligently, and felt himself melt a little as Marco smiled. His eyes crinkled, wrinkles more pronounced now they had ditched the technology between them, and it was so good to actually see Marco properly, alive and in the flesh.

“I guess… hi,” he continued, and Marco shifted his weight to one side, still smiling.

“It’s good to see you,” he said softly, and Ace felt a flush crawl up his neck as he remembered other soft words Marco had said. He cleared his throat, taking a step closer to Marco and looking away, a slight smile on his lips.

“Yeah?” Ace said, smile breaking into a grin. “It’s really good to see you,” he agreed, and it was. Forget all the worry that had threatened to build up. This was Marco, someone Ace connected well with, someone who clearly loved their birds as much as he did. He was someone Ace respected, someone he’d come to call a friend and, most recently, confessed to.

“I figured I’d see you here at some point, but I didn’t realise it would be so soon,” Ace said, giving a slight huff of laughter. “I come in and help out sometimes, though Sabo dragged me here.”

Ace took a step closer, leaning in to mock-whisper in Marco’s ear.

“Between the two of us, I think Luffy’s just been bothering him to see Luffy 2, and he needs someone to help keep Luffy out of trouble,” Ace said, trailing off as he realised just how close he’d gotten to Marco. He pressed his lips together, moving back slowly and nodding.

“Ah, my friend,” Marco said, and Ace’s stomach dropped when he remembered the altercation between Luffy 2 and Marco.

“I’d like to say it was an attack of love, but I think the only person that monster loves is Luffy. And even then he’s not afraid to try and take a chunk out of Luffy.” Ace shrugged, suddenly aware all he’d done was talk about his family. He wanted to talk to Marco, talk with Marco, not just at him.

“I’m sorry; I’m babbling. Did you sleep well?” Ace asked and at once wished the question back as heat flared in his cheeks, but Marco just chuckled, a glint in his eyes that sent a shiver down to Ace’s toes.

“Yes, I did, thank you. You were right about dinner. I would have felt terrible this morning.”

“Food is very important,” Ace said and swallowed. He wanted to reach out and touch, to feel Marco’s warm skin against his own, even just casually. He shifted on his feet and bit his lower lip. Marco’s gaze fell heavily on his lips, and Ace’s heart started racing as they drifted closer. He could feel Marco’s breath on his lips as they froze, not touching at all, but so close Ace could feel his warmth anyway.

Anticipation curled in his chest as their breath mingled, and the moment stretched agonisingly in the very best way. Their noses brushed, and Ace inhaled sharply and let his hand settle at the nape of Marco’s neck, the other drifting into his hair, but it was Marco who closed the distance, and finally brought them together, his hands brands on Ace’s lower back as they traced circles.

Their kiss was light at first, just a brush of lips as they moved together, exploring each other, but underneath burned memories of last night that kept it far from chaste. Ace tilted his head for better access, and deepened the kiss, his hand tightening in Marco’s hair. Desire swirled through him, curling lazily in his stomach, but it was overwhelmed by the sheer relief that Marco was here in front of him at last.

His heart was pounding in his ears, and Ace pressed them closer, until he could feel Marco’s chest rise and fall against his. Marco grazed Ace’s bottom lip with his teeth before he drew back, and Ace gasped, letting his head fall to Marco’s shoulder. Marco’s arms tightened around him like he might try to escape, and Ace smiled into his neck, lips brushing skin.

“So what’s this meeting about?” he asked, and he could feel Marco grin into his hair.

“Fundraising methods.”

“That sounds... fun.” Ace pulled back enough to meet Marco’s eyes, a teasing grin on his face. “Sabo really just dragged me here to poke him awake when you bore him to sleep then.”

“You’ll be there?” Marco asked, and Ace’s heart fluttered at how pleased he looked at the thought.

“Yeah, I guess.” Ace loosed his grip on Marco reluctantly and snagged his hand, drawing him towards the administration buildings. “Where did Sabo say it was?”

“I wasn’t listening honestly. I was a little distracted,” Marco said wryly, and Ace laughed, nudging Marco as they walked.

“We’ll just wander until we find Koala then. Dragon’s as apt to be in the wrong place as the rest of us, so he’s no good. Sabo’s probably still trying to convince Luffy he can’t bring his namesake to an important meeting. I wasn’t listening either,” he said, and Marco intertwined their fingers.

“You were distracted too?” Marco’s gaze was positively wicked, and Ace lost what breath he had left.  

“Maybe,” Ace said, letting his arms rest on Marco’s shoulders, wrists crossing behind Marco’s head. He smiled, eyes trailing down to Marco’s lips, and he couldn’t resist kissing him again, softly and slowly, letting his eyes close as his mind drifted to how amazing this would have been last night.

“Our first meeting and I’m already meeting some of the in-laws,” Marco said, and Ace caught the exact moment he properly realised what he’d said, lips thinning and eyes widening a little. He took a tiny step back, clearly regretting what he’d said, so Ace just pulled him close again, nodding.

“Well when I come visit you I expect the same treatment,” Ace said, and his heart raced as the words escaped. Sure he knew Marco liked him, and he knew he was comfortable enough to make jokes about more serious relationship stuff, but what if Marco didn’t like him in the end? What if Ace had just made an idiot of himself by saying there would be more meetings and Marco wanted to run a mile?

Marco gave a snort of laughter. “They’ll try and steal you from me. Oyaji will try and adopt you, and then it’ll be some weird incestuous-but-not relationship, so really we’d have to get married before you met them.” Marco smirked, and Ace raised an eyebrow.

“I can’t say that I’ve ever been proposed to on a first date,” Ace joked, and Marco took a slow breath in, looking away in slight embarrassment. “I’ll think about it,” Ace said, grinning, and he moved, slipping his arms from Marco and taking his hand instead.

“I’m totally up for telling people we just got engaged so they give us like… free stuff. Like in restaurants and that, they give you a cake or something,” Ace said, threading their fingers.

“I don’t think it works like that,” Marco commented dryly, and Ace’s stomach dipped.

“Don’t say horrid things like that or the wedding’s off,” Ace said, letting go of Marco’s hand as they entered the building. Marco was working, after all, and he didn’t need to be dragged around like a child.

“Do you want to go somewhere for lunch?” Marco asked, and Ace nodded quickly. Of course he did.

“I’d like that,” he admitted softly, stomach fluttering as Marco smiled, eyes for Ace only. “If Luffy 2 doesn’t eat me before then of course,” Ace quipped, and Marco looked away, laughing.

Ace had had plenty of people interested in him before, but none of them had made him feel how Marco did. When Marco looked at him, Ace knew his attention was for him only. He was the only thing that mattered to Marco in that moment, and Ace wondered if they made wedding clothes for pigeons. Phoenix deserved to be best man if it ever came to it.

 “Ah, Ace you found Marco!” Koala hustled up to them and began herding them to the education center.

“Yeah,” Ace said, catching Marco’s eye and grinning as they filed into the meeting room, where everyone was waiting apart from Sabo and Luffy, which made Ace grin wider. “I did.”

* * *

 

After the presentation, Marco had gone with Dragon to talk a bit more about their project here, and how they could help each other. It had been hard to leave Ace when he just gotten to meet him at last, but he was a professional. Ace had merely smiled at the end of his presentation and slipped out the door with his brothers (they’d shown up halfway through the meeting, looking only slightly worse for wear), mouthing “later” at him on his way out.

While Marco wasn’t a reptile guy-- he left that to Atmos and Kingdew with pleasure-- he helped Whitebeard run the whole sanctuary, and they had to arrange an exchange program for their spider tortoises when the new generation hatched and were ready to mate. Marco found it hard to keep his gaze from straying to the door. He must not have succeeded as when they’d finished, Dragon smiled at him and nodded to the door.

“They’ll be in Luffy 2’s enclosure. I’m sure you remember where that is after yesterday,” Dragon said with a knowing smile, and Marco hesitated only a moment before thanking him and taking his leave.

He found Luffy 2’s enclosure without any difficulty and let himself in with no little trepidation. He heard laughter inside though, so reminding himself he was a professional, he opened the inner gate. A flash of red drew his eyes to where Luffy was feeding Luffy 2 and cooing. They both turned when they caught site of Marco, and he shifted under the combined gaze.

“Is Ace here?” he asked, and Luffy shook his head.

“No, he and Sabo went to go fetch training things and more treats.” Luffy beamed at him, and Marco found himself smiling back. “Luffy 2 always does better when I come in, even though training is boring. Isn’t it?” He asked the crocodile pressed against the barrier, but he looked back to Marco. “They’ll be back soon though, so you should just wait with us unless you have somewhere else to be.”

“No, that was the last thing for the day. I think Sabo was going to show me around more. We didn’t get much time yesterday.”

Luffy’s gaze was weighty, and he fed the next piece of meat to his namesake, who took it with a snap. “Ace really likes you.”

“I really like him too,” Marco said, and he shifted again. He felt like he was taking a test but he wasn’t even sure what the questions were.

“Wanna feed him too?” Luffy asked, and Marco looked at the crocodile. He was pretty sure Luffy 2 was glaring at him, not that he was any expert on croc body language. 

“It didn’t go so well last time,” Marco said dryly. “I don’t think he likes me.”

Luffy grinned, delight shining in his eyes.

“He just takes a while to warm up, don’t you pal,” he chirped at the crocodile, spearing another chunk of meat on the tongs he held, offering it out to Marco.

There was no way he could refuse, and Marco looked down at the crocodile, taking the tongs and offering the chunk of meat slowly. The crocodile seemed to consider him, and then the meat was gone, huge jaws snapping. Luffy 2 slunk back down the bank he was on, sinking into the water, and Marco glanced at Luffy, wondering if he’d scared the crocodile off.

“He likes you,” Luffy commented, tapping one of the metal poles that held the barrier fencing up. “Which means you’re a good person. Luffy 2 never lies.”

He seemed so sure of himself that Marco really had nothing else to say. He nodded slowly, almost uncertainly, glancing back at the crocodile. Two eyes stared out of the water, completely nonplussed.

“So you like birds?” Luffy asked, peering up at Marco.

“Pigeons more specifically, but yes. Ace is looking after one of my personal birds, though I am more of a breeder than a competitor in pigeon contests.” He shrugged, and Luffy gave him a strange look.

“Okay,” he said, shaking the odd look from his face and bringing back his smile. “Breed all you want I guess, but Ace won’t have kids, you know that right?”

He was joking, Marco could tell from the way Luffy was smiling, but Marco laughed all the same.

“Can I come meet your birds?” Luffy asked, and while Marco could imagine the calamity that would come with Luffy’s visit, he thought it might bring a breath of fresh air to them all. Whitebeard would love him, that was certain.

“Sure,” Marco said, and Luffy grinned again. “You might even be able to make friends with one of our pigeons who hates almost everyone. She’s a great breeder, but if anyone except three people goes near her, she’s on their head pecking at them.”

Luffy nodded, and Marco knew the deal was sealed.

“So Ace really likes your bird,” Luffy said, standing up and brushing his trousers off. “Almost as much as he likes you, I reckon.”

“Oh,” Marco said, looking away. Luffy began walking out of the exhibit, and Marco followed dutifully. He wasn’t too sure what he was supposed to do with that information, however.

“So when you move in together that won’t be a problem,” Luffy clarified as they stepped out, and Marco paused hand on the door.

“You’ve only just met me. I’ve only just properly met Ace. Why do you say that?” he said. Even though they’d joked about marriage and got on well, they had just been jokes between them to lighten the tension and awkwardness.

Luffy snickered and from the water there was an answering splash from Luffy 2’s tail. “You're funny.”

The door behind them opened,and Marco turned to it in relief. “Ace, Marco is funny.”

Ace's smile was warm as he quirked a brow at Marco, eyes dancing. “Do I want to know?”

“If you do I'm the wrong person to ask,” Marco said dryly, and Ace snorted, but he was summarily shoved out of the way before he could respond.

“Shush with your useless banter. You said we could.meet him now,” Sabo said, and Marco could have sworn he saw Ace mouth “sorry” at him over Sabos shoulder.

“You've already met him,” Ace said and Luffy agreed, but he turned to sorting out the target stick and clicker.

“Luffy 2 likes him, and he's funny.”

“Yeah, but I didn't know he was the pigeon guy. I mean, I knew you were _a_ pigeon guy, but...” Sabo tailed off as Ace stepped on his foot, and Marco hid a smile.

“There'll be time for this later,” Ace said. “Now, can we get this training over with?” His eyes flicked to the pool where eyes stared back unblinking, a hint of trepidation in his gaze that Marco was very much behind.

Sabo morphed into professional mode so fast Marco was left blinking as he fired off orders. “You two can just observe, and any suggestions would be welcome.” He grinned at Ace and Marco in turn. “You both have way more experience training, even if it is lame birdbrains.”

The morning flew by, and Ace was shocked when Sabo checked his watch and started shoving them to the entrance.

“You'd better get a move on or you'll be late for your reservation!”

Marco turned to Ace, but he looked just as puzzled as he felt. They'd only agreed upon lunch a couple hours ago.

Sabo shrugged and pointed at Luffy, who just grinned.

“Sanji was happy to squeeze you and Phoenix's owner in.”

Marco knew the name Sanji from his conversations with Ace, and he was certainly looking forward to a decent lunch. He caught Ace’s eye as the others continued talking, and he smiled, his entire world narrowing just down to Ace.

“Yeah alright,” Ace said, though he didn’t look away from Marco. He gave a little grin, finally glancing towards his brothers. “We’ll be off then. Can you spare Marco for the afternoon? I know he has that meeting with Dragon at 2pm, but he’s free aside from that?”

“He’s all yours,” Sabo said, and something hit Marco’s stomach, blossoming bright and warm. He liked the sound of that, and there was a look in Ace’s eyes that made him want to clear his throat. Surely a look like that would only get them into trouble, and so Marco looked away, nodding to Luffy and Sabo.

“We better head out then,” he said, and Ace moved off first. He was a step ahead of Marco until they were outside, where he grabbed Marco’s hand and squeezed.

“Food it is then,” he commented lightly, and Marco nodded. There was no way they could get back to Ace’s house (or Marco’s hotel for that matter) for sex, and besides Marco didn’t want to rush things. Sure they’d had phone sex, but that was different. He wanted Ace, yes, but he wanted to take his time getting to know Ace and exploring him whenever they did have sex. There wasn’t the time for that now, as unfortunate as that was.

“I think I told you about Sanji, right?” Ace was saying, and Marco nodded, letting their hands swing as they moved towards the car park. There was a taxi waiting for them, one someone must have booked earlier, and they headed towards it.

“The amazing chef? Definitely,” Marco commented, his stomach rumbling with amazing timing. He gave a snort of laughter, and Ace turned to him, grinning.

They separated to climb into the car, Ace rattling off directions. The engine started, and Marco sat back, enjoying the views of the city as they moved through it.

With his plan concerning opening a second centre in the city, Marco had already contacted a few property management agencies. He’d found a handful of buildings that would be suitable, submitted them to Whitebeard, and they were waiting on quotes. The insides of all of them would need to be repurposed, but that was a cost they could afford based on pigeon show earnings. It would be a tight squeeze for a while, but they had some surplus stock they could sell off too, yearlings that would only contribute to inbreeding if they stayed.

In short, their plan was looking to be a real reality, and it was something he needed to discuss with Ace. Should the new centre open in the city, Marco would be moving here. He’d be in charge, overseeing mainly exotic pigeon breeding, but also a small showing population – birds that would bring in higher prizes with the bigger shows the city had to offer. He’d need good employees, and while he could take a few from the main centre, he needed Ace most of all.

“After your talk with Dragon you should come over to mine. Phoenix will be dying to see you, and you can meet the others,” Ace said, and Marco nodded eagerly. He’d been dying to see Ace’s facilities – his own had plenty of space to work with, but Ace had been resourceful. His pigeons had all they needed and yet they were able to fit seamlessly into the city life. They didn’t have huge sprawling land around their houses, but they’d managed.

“I’d like that,” Marco said, thinking of Phoenix. It felt like such a long time since he’d last seen his favourite pigeon. It hadn’t been that long really, but he’d missed Phoenix so much.

They pulled up to the restaurant, and Marco swung the car into the last spot in the small lot. “Popular, I see?” he said as they got out of the car, and Ace hummed in agreement as he snagged Marco's hand.

“Sanji’s food is the best.”

When they went in, the hostess ginned at Ace and glanced at Marco appraisingly.

“Nami, this is Marco,” Ace said, and Marco smiled at how he was making the rounds of Ace's friends already. “Marco, my friend Nami.”

“It's good to meet you,” Marco said, and Nami smiled, her eyes still considering. “Ace has told me lots about you.”

“Yeah, he never shuts up about you,” she said, and Marco knew he was grinning like an idiot, but it was good to know Ace had been the same as he was. He should probably worry about when Ace met his brothers, but that was for another time.

“ _Nami!_ ” Ace looked like he wanted the restaurant floor to open up and swallow him, and Marco squeezed his hand reassuringly. It would probably be good for Ace to meet his brothers.

“Right, your table is this way, gentlemen.” They were seated in a corner by a window, and Nami left them without menus, saying Sanji would be right out.

“He normally just makes whatever he feels like for us. I hope that's okay.” Ace looked a bit nervous, and Marco reached out across the table to take his hand.

“That sounds perfect. I'm excited after all you've told me about it.”

Ace looked up from the fork he'd been fiddling with and his smile stole Marco's breath. He knew it was ridiculous but seeing that warmth in Ace's face always made his stomach flip, especially in person.

“So how long are you staying in town?” Ace's casual tone was forced, and Marco smiled ruefully.

“My train is Wednesday night, unfortunately.” Ace drooped, and Marco bit his lip. He didn't want to make this all about work but he wanted Ace to know they wouldn't be apart long. “Whitebeard will be calling you to set up an interview soon.”

Ace's eyes widened impossibly, and Marco rushed on. “We're setting up a place in the city, and I'll need help running it. I'm apparently too biased to do your interview, but I think that's just the old.man being incredibly nosy.”

“You want me?” Ace's jaw dropped when the rest of it sank in. “You’re moving here?”

“We haven't bought land yet, but my next trip out I'll be looking at properties for the centre.” Marco raised his brows at Ace. “And leaving aside all the possible answers to the first question that aren't appropriate for our first date...” Ace grinned at him in a way that had Marco shifting in his seat.

“You’re great with your birds, you know the area and already have connections and know the shows, and you're much better than we are at utilising space-- something we're really going to need. We'd be lucky to have you to be honest.”

Marco  looked away, suddenly shy. What if Ace turned him down? What if he thought Marco was some weird stalker who was trying to trap him? There were so many what ifs, and Marco took a steadying breath, about to speak when a man walked up to the table.

“You’re not even allowed to know what your food is until the end,” the man commented, and Marco knew this must be Sanji. Ace looked up at him, rolling his eyes.

“Sanji, this is Marco. Marco, Sanji.” Sanji nodded at him, setting down two bowls of creamy, green soup.

“It’s a delight – I’ll leave you to your food, and we can catch up at the end,” Sanji offered, eyes flickering between them, well aware he’d interrupted a conversation.

“Sure,” Ace said, waving as Sanji retreated to his kitchen. Marco took a small spoonful, and his eyes widened when it hit his tongue, flavours bursting across his palate.

“Please tell me you get a discount here and I can cash in on this discount,” Marco said, and Ace kicked him lightly under the table, smiling.

“Sure you can,” Ace said, tucking into his own soup. “Spouses can totally cash in on the discount,” he continued cheekily, and Marco’s nerves settled. Ace didn’t think he was some weird stalker then, thank god.

“So if I did go for this job, what exactly would I be doing? I mean I know you breed and show and rescue, etc., but what would I do for you?” Ace asked, gaze sharp. Marco raised his eyebrows slightly, intrigued by the change of pace all of a sudden.

“More specifically speaking, I’d like you to head the show pigeon part, though there probably will be crossover into the breeding exotics part. You’ll be in charge, pretty much, and how you look after the show birds and compete in competitions is up to you. We need the money and we need the publicity, so to speak, and what better way than to show the pigeon show rings how pigeons should be cared for.” Marco finished the last spoonful of soup, glancing at Ace.

“I might not get it,” Ace said, cautionary, and Marco tilted his head to the side.

“You might not,” he conceded, for it was true. If Whitebeard didn’t think Ace was right for the job, no amount of Marco trying to get him on board would help. That was how it should be too, Marco thought, but he had a gut feeling that Ace would definitely get it.

“We’ll have to see,” Ace said, leaning back in his chair and watching Marco for a moment. “If it did happen, I think I’d like to do it,” he offered, and Marco’s breath caught in his chest. With Ace on board, he knew everything would run a lot smoother.

“Good,” was all he offered instead, nodding before placing his hands on the table.

Their next course rolled out, and Marco began explaining how he’d gotten into the bird business in the first place, following Ace’s story about how he’d practically been raised with the birds, and there’s no escaping after that.

“I never meant to really,” Marco said, licking some sauce away from hips lips and fighting the urge to sigh at how delicious it was. “Someone was getting rid of their pigeon, and they knew I liked animals. I went to take it to a shelter the next day, practically panicking, and ended up deciding to look after it once they’d helped me get all the information I needed.” Marco shook his head, smiling at the memory of that pigeon.

“It was a nightmare, I made so many mistakes, but that pigeon was a saint.” Ace was looking at him, something soft and warm in his eyes.

“They sucked you in though, didn’t they?” Ace asked, and Marco laughed.

“They did at that. I found Whitebeard when I looked for someone to tell me how I should take care of him properly, and that was that.” Marco smiled at the memory and the patience with which Whitebeard had taught him. “I dropped by one day... to thank him, I think, and realised I didn’t want to leave.”

“They can grab you like that,” Ace said. “And how did you meet Phoenix? You must have hatched him yourself from how well trained he is.” Sanji swooped in to steal their plates, and they both sat back a little.

“Dessert is coming right up!” Sanji said, and he left them with a steaming pot of tea, pouring them each a cup deftly.

“This is my favorite kind,” Marco said, his eyes narrowed, as he sniffed the tea. “I’ve never told you that.”

“I stalk you online a lot,” Ace said, smirking, then he laughed. “No, this is just also my favorite, that’s why he made it.”

Marco shook his head, but he couldn’t help a pleased smile, thinking of the potential shared pots of tea. “Why did you start with racers? I know Roger normally is into show pigeons more.”

Ace rolled his eyes at the mention of his dad, and Marco took a sip of his tea with an appreciative hum. “That’s exactly why,” Ace started and stopped, fiddling with his cup. Marco watched his hands, long, elegant fingers tracing designs on a cup that seemed far too small and delicate. “I wanted to get out from under his shadow.” He laughed, and Marco looked back into his eyes. “You should see how the judges suck up to him. It pisses him off so much.” Ace’s hands tightened on his cup and then he took another sip.

“Anyway, races always appealed to me, and it involves a bit more training.” Marco nodded, but before he could think of anything to say, Sanji was back, this time with a bowl of bananas foster, the ice cream just beginning to melt into the sauce. He set it down with flair, then whispered something in Ace’s ear that made him flush. Marco toyed with his cup, firmly keeping his mind off of what might make Ace so embarrassed. Sanji winked at Marco, sternly warned them to say goodbye before they left and ran off to chase down a waiter to scold.

“I may not be able to stay awake for my meeting at this rate,” Marco said as he took a spoonful, and Ace laughed.

“Yeah, that’s one downside to lunch at Sanji’s. Requires naps.” Ace caught a bit of sauce that was about to drip from his spoon on a finger and licked it off slowly, his eyes still on the bowl. Marco’s throat dried, and he watched as Ace cleaned his spoon of every little bit of sauce before taking another bite.

“You don’t like it,” Ace asked, and Marco glared when he saw Ace’s eyes dancing and knew he’d been caught out.

“I like it very much,” he said softly, glancing around them. Time for that later, Marco thought, and he cleared his throat, trying to focus on the ice cream dripping onto the tablecloth, not Ace licking his fingers.

“Phoenix then,” he said, taking some banana himself. It was rich, warm and delicious, and Marco half-shut his eyes for a moment, memories of summers on the coast and failed barbeques firing across his tongue. They’d always used to stop by one of the run down restaurants right on the beach, and the chef there had made the best banana desserts.

“Yeah,” Ace mumbled, and Marco licked his lips slowly, teasing Ace purposefully.

“5th generation bred by me,” Marco announced proudly. “His parents caught toxoplasmosis, unfortunately, so the decision was made to hand-rear. One thing led to another, I was perhaps a bit too lax on the little contact, and here we are today.”

Ace smiled, resting his hand on his cheek, elbow on the table.

“That’s pretty amazing. He is an amazing bird though, I have to admit. He’s doing a lot better now as well, starting to fly really nicely.” Ace took another bite, and Marco took a deep breath, steeling himself for his reaction.

“I mean you’ll see for yourself,” Ace said, glancing up at Marco and smirking, making a show of licking sauce off of his fingers. Marco shifted, glancing around to see if anyone else was taking in the show, and was just about to chance a foot against Ace’s calf when Nami passed by the table, setting her hand down heavily on the surface between them.

“Boys, really,” she said in a low voice, straightening up, hand on hip. “Keep it family friendly please, and if you really need it, then you know Sanji has a room with a bed out back.”

She winked, moving off to tend to some other customers, and Marco shifted guiltily, glad to see Ace’s embarrassed cheeks that showed Marco wasn’t the only one feeling a little guilty.

“We should totally take her up on that offer one day though,” Ace said cunningly, recovering from the mild embarrassment. “Nami is a total bluffer, she’d never think we’d actually do it, so I say we should. Maybe to celebrate the new centre opening,” Ace suggested, grabbing a napkin and wiping his hands. The plate between them was empty, and Ace lounged back in his chair, patting his stomach gently.

“Good luck staying awake through your meeting,” Ace muttered, and Marco kicked him lightly.

“Maybe I’ll record the whole thing and make you watch it,” Marco replied, masking a yawn. Scratch Nami’s suggestion, Marco needed that bed to let his food digest.

Their conversation drifted then, stories about the past and family teasing out. They got on well, Marco thought, really well. Almost alarmingly, he’d say, except they’d known each other for a long time, really. Just because they were only meeting in person now didn’t mean they had to be completely different with each other.

The time they had flew by, and Marco looked at his watch and swore. “We’d better get going.” He let his regret creep into his voice, and Ace flashed him a smile as they got to their feet.

“You can drive me home after,” Ace said, leaning into his side for a moment before putting a proper distance between them once more. “I’m pretty sure my ride abandoned me just to make sure that happens, and Phoenix will be glad to see you.” Marco’s lips quirked at the quick rush of excuses, and he ruffled Ace’s hair before he could stop himself.

“I’d love to. Sorry to hold you up with the last meeting. It won’t take long, hopefully.” They got back to the car, but instead of climbing into the passenger seat, Ace caught Marco’s arm and pulled him into a searing kiss.

When Ace pulled back, Marco just stared at him, dazed, until Ace laughed and shoved him to his door.

“You’re going to be late, c’mon. I know I’m irresistible and all, but it’s going to have to wait a bit.”

* * *

 

Ace pressed his thumb to the lock on the loft, trying not to shift from foot to foot. His parents weren’t home, so they’d bypassed the house to go straight to see Phoenix, and he had to admit, no matter that Marco had seen his space on Skype, he was a bit anxious. Marco was an expert, and to show him the place he’d cobbled together with only his brothers to help was nerve wracking.

The drive over had been almost too short, and Ace was honestly sure that he’d never get tired of hearing Marco talk. It was amazing after all this time, to know that he was actually in front of him, that he could reach out and Marco was there. That he wanted to be there.

The door snicked open with a happy little beep that always made Ace smile, and the lights came on as he gestured Marco through the door.

“Phoenix is in quarantine still, just off to the left,” Ace said, and stood back as Marco flashed him a quick smile of thanks. Ace watched, holding his breath, as Phoenix flapped excitedly at his door opening. The moment he saw it was Marco and not Ace as he expected Phoenix froze comically, almost doing a double take. Then he was off, wings fluttering so he could land on Marco’s shoulder, immediately setting himself to preening Marco’s hair.

Marco’s soft chuckle was tinged in relief, and Ace smiled, watching Marco reach up to gently run a finger down Phoenix’s chest. “Well, hello to you too, little runaway.” Ace made his way to the food cupboard and began rummaging for some treats. He heard Marco snicker, but he still jumped but Phoenix landed on his shoulder, peering over curiously to see what treats he’d be getting.

“Little traitor.” Marco laughed, and Ace grabbed some corn and turned back to Marco, glaring at the bird on his shoulder.

“He’s not usually fond of other people, so take it as the highest compliment one can receive,” Marco said, and Phoenix cooed happily as Ace grabbed a small pot, filling it with corn and setting it on the side. Phoenix hopped down, feet tapping as he strode merrily towards the pot, and he began picking his way through the corn, scattering unwanted kernels everywhere.

“So, talk me through your set up,” Marco said, leaning against the wall. He looked so suave, and Ace set the pot of corn he’d taken out back down, swallowing and trying to focus on business, not on the fact his bedroom was really close.

“Well there’s this quarantine, then the flocking aviary, and breeding ones. I also have a training room and an incubating, hatching and rearing room. All of them technically would be rooms in a proper house, but as I get the small bit of the house, they weren’t really suitable for much. A few dividers put in to make them smaller, a few extensions to the outside world, and I had my aviaries. It’s not much, and I can’t sustain a flock much bigger than the one I have now, but it works for me.” Ace smiled as Phoenix looked up, as if to check that both Marco and Ace were still there, before he began preening his tail feathers.

“My dad has an old shed out back, and he’s cut down massively. I think he has maximum ten birds at a time now, and even then that’s only when he’s breeding to sell.” Ace watched as Phoenix few back to Marco’s shoulder, bobbing his head as he did so.

“None of that,” Marco muttered, shaking his head. “I don’t think you’ll be in condition to breed this year, but we’ll see,” he continued, and Ace nodded.

“He’s been calling out to the other pigeons a lot lately. I don’t have any that are the same breed as him, or I might have tried introducing them.” Ace shrugged, watching as Marco used the tip of his finger to preen Phoenix’s neck.

“I was in contact with someone about having them send their female to me, but I think I might give him a miss this year. He’s been through a lot, haven’t you,” Marco said, directing his words to Phoenix. “We can work on adding more females to the flock back home another time.”

“Do you want to see the rest of the rooms? Phoenix can come with, actually, if you’d like.” There was no reason why not to, but Marco shook his head, dipping his shoulder and tapping the perch beside the corn.

“He’ll be even more of a troublemaker if I let him come with us. He gets ridiculously jealous,” Marco said in a stage whisper, raising an eyebrow. “He once killed a man,” he joked, and Ace rolled his eyes, looking down fondly at Phoenix, the little pigeon staring right back at him, blinking slowly.

“I heard it was two,” Ace commented, nodding for Marco to follow.

“I’ll be back soon then,” Marco said over his shoulder, Phoenix calling as they left.

Ace’s nerves fell away as Marco seemed genuinely interested, asking questions about Ace’s many space saving measures and how his birds responded.

“And which of these gorgeous birds is Striker?” Marco asked, eyes flitting around. “I’d heard about him before you ever called. He’s got some pretty impressive times.”

Ace beamed, and he couldn’t resist the opportunity to show off. He snapped his fingers twice and Striker, who’d been eying him hoping to get the signal so he could have some corn, flew over at once to land on Ace’s outstretched hand. Marco’s eyes widened in a gratifying manner, while Ace cooed over his bird and presented him with corn.

“You wanna show off for Marco?” Ace asked, and Striker let himself be passed over with no qualms. He was well used to judges inspecting him by now, and he hopped onto Marco’s hand with a hand signal from Ace.

“He’s a beauty,” Marco said, and Ace’s heart flipped, watching Marco fuss over his bird. Striker decided he was preening worthy, making Marco laugh. “Everything you’ve done here is amazing, Ace.”

Ace felt heat rise up in his cheeks, and he shifted back on his heels. “Thanks, Marco. It means a lot to hear that from you.”

“What all do you teach them?” Marco asked, stroking Striker’s feathers softly, as Ace put his hand down for Striker’s mate, who was looking cross at all the attention Striker was getting. He set her on his shoulder, and she began preening his hair in a proprietary manner.

Marco set Striker back on a perch and scattered a handful of corn for the pigeons to chase, and Ace nudged him back towards quarantine. “I have to check on everything, go spend time with Phoenix. He’s been pining away, and here you are playing with other birds.”

Marco laughed. “You sure you don’t want help?” he asked, but he was already leaning towards the door and Ace waved him off, a smile curving his lips. He took his time with his chores, humming to himself, Marco’s voice rumbling through the building as he murmured to Phoenix.

When he was finished, Ace washed his hands, and Marco put Phoenix to bed in quarantine and followed suit, pressing against Ace to reach the sink. Ace repressed a shiver and bit his lip, drawing in a deep breath.  

“There’s one more thing,” he said, and Marco looked up at him curiously.

“Oh?” Marco had drawn closer, and Ace licked his lips. Marco’s gaze settled on him like a physical weight, tracing where his tongue had been. Ace smiled, dizzy with the rush of effecting Marco so easily, and snagged Marco’s hand.

“Wanna come upstairs?”

* * *

 

Ace fiddled his his tie and shifted uncomfortably, scanning the crowd for a familiar face. He had to give it to his new employers-- the Whitebeards sure knew how to throw an opening party. The room was full of people who would in all likelihood be providing his new birds with food and had paid for the new center, glittering with jewelry.

Snagging some food as a platter passed, Ace continued searching for someone he knew. He smiled as he noted Thatch and Vista, rolling their eyes every time the person they were talking to looked away, and Ace made a point to stay away from them as long as they were engaged. He wanted to avoid as many uppity investors as he could.

Slinking to the side of the room, Ace grinned as he saw Whitebeard. He was standing by the doorway to the kitchen, sipping from a thin champagne flute and staring out at the crowd, mind elsewhere.

“Hey,” Ace greeted gently, and Whitebeard looked down at him with a smile.

“I abandoned Marco to the handful of journalists that wanted interviews,” Whitebeard announced merrily, and Ace laughed. It hadn’t taken long for him to be taken under Whitebeard’s wing once they’d met, and they’d continued to bloom after that.

“He deserves it,” Ace grumbled light heartedly. It was Marco’s fault he had to wear a tie anyway. What was wrong with an open shirt and shorts?

“I’ll be hanging around while you get started, by the way,” Whitebeard said pleasantly, and Ace raised an eyebrow. “Even us old folks need holidays, and it’s been awhile since I’ve caught up with some old friends.”

Ace nodded, already knowing at least two people Whitebeard would be catching up with. He could use the excuse to show off his private birds too, and Phoenix would love to see Whitebeard again, having stayed at Ace’s instead of going back with Marco. There was no point in constantly moving him, after all, and Ace was going to miss him when he relocated to Marco’s apartment.

“I’m going to go find Marco now,” Ace said, and Whitebeard nodded, sipping at his drink with a twinkle in his eye. “I’ll see you later,” he said, waving to Whitebeard as he walked off.

Although he was caught by a few people wanting to hear all about the new centre, Ace escaped from the room with relative ease. He’d looped around, gone back to where Whitebeard had been, and, following Whitebeard’s jerk of the head, had entered the kitchen, where he found Marco staring at chopping boards.

“Are you alright?” Ace asked, worry clouding through him. Marco snapped to attention, smiling when he noticed it was Ace.

“I needed a moment where I didn’t have to talk figures and rates,” he admitted, raising a hand as Sanji continued pushing out plates and plates of delicious food. Sanji waved back in return, jerking a thumb to the door at the back.

“Shall we?” Ace said, and Marco nodded, letting Ace take his hand and lead him outside. Sanji shut the door behind them with a knowing smile, and Ace was glad he was surrounded by amazing friends.

The air outside was warm, and they walked around the side of the building to where the outside aviaries sat, huge wooden frames with zoo mesh. They were split inside, with the dividers being able to be moved depending on what birds they wanted in each section, and it was an amazing work of art. Franky had been pivotal in designing this building, and Ace believed that he’d already signed another contract to work on the older centre to renovate it. The Whitebeards being involved with Ace had been good for everyone.

The path was lit by lanterns for the party tonight, though the birds were long asleep, and they’d both put their foot down when some of the investors had wanted to disturb them. Marco’s hand was warm in his as they strolled through the balmy night air, a comfortable silence wrapped around them.

They paused in accord at the door to the aviary, and Marco’s thumb brushed along the back of Ace’s hand, as he pulled Ace to face him. In the dim light of the lanterns, Ace could still make out the exhaustion in his face. Marco had been working like crazy to get the centre up and running, and Ace slipped into his arms, pulling him close without a thought.

Marco wrapped his arms around him, clinging as if he were a lifeline, and he inhaled deeply, pressing his lips to Ace’s hair.

“You need to sleep.”

“I love you.”

They both spoke at the same time, and Marco huffed a laugh as Ace froze.

“You first,” Marco said, and Ace pulled back enough so he could glare at him. Marco bit his lip to hold in his laughter, his eyes crinkled up.

“Really?” Ace asked, his eyebrows raised. “No, I think you’re going first.”

“I mean I can’t argue with you-- I do need sleep but I can’t exactly skip out on the party, so it’s going to have to wait.” Ace tightened his grip on Marco’s shoulders warningly.

“You’ve been saying it’s going to have to wait for-- No, dammit, stop distracting me.” Marco laughed for real this time and drew Ace closer again. Ace let himself be tugged with a huff, and Marco’s lips quirked.

“I said I love you,” he said, and Ace’s heart stopped. He hadn’t really thought he’d heard Marco incorrectly.

Ace would have made a joke, but his eyes caught on Marco’s, and all thoughts of joking went out of his head. His stomach was alive with nerves, and Ace licked his lips. He’d known he’d loved Marco for a long time now, and loved him since perhaps before they’d met. He cleared his throat, and Marco’s lips quirked, and suddenly it was the easiest thing in the world to say.

“I love you too.” Ace coughed and straightened up to slot their mouths together, one hand tangled in Marco’s tie (and while he’d be happy if he never had to wear one again, he had to admit, they weren’t bad at all on Marco) while the other pulled him closer.  The kiss was slow, unhurried, and contentment wrapped around Ace as they savored each other, knowing they had all the time in the world.

The kitchen door banged open, and Ace sighed into the kiss, and they untangled as Sanji yelled.

“There’s some important bastard looking for you two!”

“Duty calls,” Ace said quietly, and there was a soft coo from inside the aviary. The sound brought  smile to both of their lips, and they slipped back inside with their hands clasped tightly.

They could get through this night easily, knowing that their birds would be safe, and they could do some real good in the world with this new centre. And after all the guests had gone, Marco would take Ace upstairs to his apartment for the first time, and Ace would get to watch the dawn break through Marco’s huge window.

And in the morning light, Ace would tell Marco he loved him back, though such facts were already known, and then they’d roll back into bed, arms tightly wrapped around each other, wondering how they could have been content before a little pigeon had taken a wrong turn in a storm.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading! We'd love to hear what you thought!


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